To Love and To Cherish
by SnowGlobeQueen
Summary: One shots, deleted scenes, and drabbles relating to my stories Till Death Do You Part and To Have and To Hold. What kind of crazy shenanigans can Loki, Maisy, Linn, Bjorn, and the rest get into? Guess you'll have to read to find out!
1. Beach Babes

**A note from the author: Welcome, welcome to a wonderfully wacky one shot! This is the first of (hopefully) many short stories involving Loki, Maisy, Linn, Bjorn, and some other familiar faces. If you don't know who three fourths of those characters are then you may have stumbled across this story without having read the fics leading up to it. If you are interested in my other stories that these are branching off of they are called Till Death Do You Part and, the sequel, To Have and To Hold. If you don't feel like reading those... well, this is going to be kind of confusing for you but you are welcome anyway!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Loki, the Avengers, or any Marvel characters, only my OCs.**

"You wearing _that_ to the beach?"

Maisy sighed and wished she'd thought to wear a cover over her two piece swimsuit. It wasn't even that revealing as far as swimwear went, but she should have known her father would make a stink about the blue halter bikini top. At least he couldn't complain about the bottom, as she'd opted for black swim shorts.

"Yes, I am wearing this."

"Loki know about that?" Her dad raised an eyebrow and she couldn't help but laugh.

"No, but why would he care?"

"He might not like the other men looking atcha. I don't like the thought of it, but I'm trying to accept that you're a grown woman now and letcha make your own choices," Joshua Sichore shuffled awkwardly and Maisy beamed at him.

"Thank you, Dad," she pulled her kimono style cover on and slid her sunglasses on to the top of her head, "And don't worry, I put three bottles of sunscreen in my beach bag. The waterproof kind."

"Good. Last thing we need is you or Loki or little Linn getting sunburned and skin cancer."

"I know. We'll be careful-"

"You remember what I taught you about CPR?"

"Yes, Dad."

"How about the other two? They know CPR?"

"I'm sure Loki does, or something similar."

"I know how to do the fing where you get the water outta people's lungs if dat's what you're talking about!" Linn bounced into the room, wearing her one piece, turquoise bathing suit and a frilly little swim skirt.

"And you know how to swim, right?" Josh had gotten oddly protective of Linn ever since they'd begun their California visit and he found out that her father had died. Maisy was glad, and confused, that Josh, though protective, was not as stifling to Linn's choices as he'd been during Maisy's childhood.

"Course I do! One time I fell into the water over the side of the Rainbow Bridge when I was bringing Heimdall his laundry. I had to keep on swimming otherwise I woulda been swept into the void!"

"They really should add railing," Maisy muttered.

"The void is not an experience I would recommend," Loki said, coming out of the bathroom as he tied the string at the waist of his swim trunks (which were black with green flame decorations). When he was fully in the living room of Josh and Ima's house Maisy couldn't stop staring.

"Was the void cold?" Linn asked curiously, "Because the water sure was."

"I do not recall," Loki smirked at Maisy, "You'll catch flies with your mouth hanging open like that."

"It's not hanging open," she grinned and looked him up and down, "I gotta say, you look good in a swimsuit from Walmart."

"He's pretty darn buff!" Linn giggled, "I fought Thor was da only one wif dat many abs!"

"No, no," Maisy took a step closer, putting a hand on his chest, "My guy's _way_ better looking than Thor."

"I dunno about that," Ima, Maisy's stepmother, called from where she was watching a soap opera on the couch, "I mean, have you _seen_ Thor?"

"Hey!" Josh snapped.

"But he's not my type," Ima wiggled her manicured fingers at her fiance and winked at him. That seemed to satisfy Josh for the time being.

"Thor's nice and all," Maisy smirked at Loki, "But he's got nothing on my husband."

"Can we stop this flirting business please?" Josh coughed, "I can only handle so much of seeing you make adult choices, Maisy-Waisy."

"Sorry," she laughed and kissed Loki on the cheek. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and kissed her brow in turn.

"You don't look so bad yourself, my lady. Perhaps we ought to go swimming more frequently."

"Let's see if you even like the beach before we start making more plans," she slung the bag full of towels and sunscreen over her shoulder and gave her father a hug, "You mind if we take your Jeep, Dad?"

"Can I drive?" Linn was bouncing again, "Please? Tony let me drive his car in a parking lot one time! He said I was really good at it!"

"He did _what_?" Loki asked, shocked, "You could have crashed!"

"There was no one around. I couldn't have hit anyone if I wanted to," she got a wicked gleam in her eyes, "Tony even let me do a donut fingy where I went round and round really fast!"

"Okay, okay," Josh held the keys to his Jeep aloft, "Y'all can take my car as long as you don't let the little speed demon drive. I suddenly feel much better about Maisy's driving skills having heard that story."

"Well, I did learn from the best."

"I thought Bret taught you how to drive."

"He did! But you helped, which is why I'm such a good driver."

Maisy took the keys and said one final goodbye to her father and stepmother as she led Loki and Linn out to the garage. When she opened the door, revealing the Jeep, Linn made a grab for the keys.

"I gotta drive dat fing!"

"No."

"Please?! Look at it! It's beauty-ful!"

"No," Maisy laughed, "My dad already said you couldn't and it's his car. His dream car, actually."

"Well now it's my dream car too," Linn sighed wistfully and jumped into the back of the open top vehicle, not bothering to use the doors.

"It looks like a death trap," Loki grumbled, taking the beach bag and cooler from Maisy and tossing them into the back with Linn.

"If you can take a beating from the Hulk you can survive riding in a Jeep," Maisy laughed, looking around the garage until she found a big, colorful umbrella. She handed the umbrella to Linn and then climbed into the driver's seat.

"It is not myself that I am worried about," Loki sat next to her and buckled his seatbelt, "Should you not be wearing a helmet or something?"

"Uh… why?"

"Because there is no roof!"

"We'll be fine. Everyone ready to hit the road?"

"Yee-haw!" Linn hollered, snapping her seatbelt into place.

"I suppose," Loki realized at that moment that he'd never ridden in a vehicle with Maisy driving. He didn't ride in cars often, but when he did it was usually one of the Avengers or Happy Hogan driving. It hadn't even occurred to him that his wife could operate any sort of motor powered transportation. "You are sure you can drive this?"

"I learned to drive when I was twelve, Loki, I think I've got it covered."

"If you could drive at twelve how come I can't drive?" Linn demanded, "And let's stop blabbing and start cruising, yeah?"

Maisy laughed and started the Jeep, pulling out into the long drive way. Her father lived far away from anywhere, which was probably for the best considering how he felt about most people. This far from town no one got on his lawn for him to threaten with a shotgun.

"You can't drive because the legal age is sixteen," Maisy answered Linn, "And you are fifteen."

"Den how come you learned at twelve?!"

"Uh…" Maisy got to the end of the driveway and turned onto the rundown road that would take them to an actual road, which would eventually lead to a beach. "What's that thing people say? Do as I say, not as I do?"

"Now I am curious as well," Loki said, "Why would your brother teach you to drive at such a young age?"

"I was an angsty tween, okay? I was mad at my dad, at Ima, at Chet and Todd, and my mom. Bret was the only one who I wasn't mad at most of the time so he took me driving to cool me off sometimes," Maisy waved it away, eyes focused on the road, "At least until I started drawing and sewing to let off steam."

"I dunno about you, Loki, but I can't imagine Maisy being angsty," Linn giggled.

"Is that when you began to dye your hair?" Loki smirked, reaching over and giving her platinum blonde locks a gentle tug.

"Ha!" Maisy swerved a little to avoid some roadkill, "The first time I dyed my hair I was fourteen. My friends from school had left over purple dye and they let me have it. I made such a huge mess of the bathroom. And my dad was furious!"

"Purple?" Linn wrinkled her nose, "Who'd want to wear purple?"

"You know, on earth purple used to be the color of royalty. It was so expensive to make that only really, really rich people could afford it."

"Den how come the laundry maids in Asgard wear it?"

"If only we could ask my mother," Loki commented, "I'm sure she would know. Or Madame Veru… if you dare speak to her."

"I bet it's because it's much easier to make dyes these days. And Asgard is way ahead of earth in all techy stuff, right? They probably have some really inexpensive process to dye fabric," Maisy sighed and remembered the beauty of the fabric storage room she'd seen and then shook her head, "Besides, you don't wear real purple, you wear lavender, which is much lighter. And _you_ don't have to worry about it anymore because you can wear whatever you want."

"Dat's true."

They fell into a comfortable silence for sometime before Maisy hit the radio button and a catchy pop song floated over them. It was, evidently, one that the earth-native in the vehicle knew well. She began singing along at the top of her lungs, her hair fluttering in the wind.

Loki couldn't help but grin as he watched her fingers drum against the steering wheel. She'd flicked her sunglasses down and was bobbing her head along to the beat.

"_Oh no! See you walkin' round like it's a funeral, not so serious, girl, why those feet cold? We just getting started don't you tiptoe..._" Maisy sang happily, she kept up with the words fairly well, stumbling over a few lines or tricky words. But for the most part she could carry the tune well.

Loki wanted to roll his eyes at the silliness of a song about eating cake by an ocean (wouldn't sand get in the frosting?), but when he tried to get annoyed he kept seeing Maisy's smile flashing beside him. Her fluffy hair bounced around her and the sun highlighted her light freckles. And when he saw that, he could only smile and lean back in his seat. He even caught a glimpse of Linn in the rearview mirror as she listened intently to the radio and tried to pick up the words so she could sing along. She burst in, off tune, at the chorus and Maisy laughed giddily.

The drive lasted longer than Loki expected since the Sichore family said the beach was just "down the way". After driving for forty-five or so minutes they finally arrived at a sandy stretch that was teeming with people. Maisy turned the Jeep dangerously fast and nabbed one of the last available parking spots right before an itty bitty electric car could get it. The driver of the electric car gave them the middle finger and Loki waved, sending a spark of magic their way. The back tires burst, resulting in loud swearing.

"Oh geez," Maisy climbed out of the driver's seat, watching the other car anxiously, "I hope they're okay. What happened to their tires? Maybe I should offer them help?"

"They'll be fine," Loki picked up the cooler and the umbrella, "They ought to be able to push such a tiny vehicle easily."

"I guess," Maisy bit her lip worriedly, probably regretting taking the last parking spot. Loki handed her the beach bag to take her mind off of it.

Linn hopped out of the back and hopped from foot to foot eagerly. She was eyeing the water with both excitement and apprehension. She turned to Loki.

"You fink you could beat a shark in a fight?"

"A what?"

"A shark. Y'know? Big fish with sharp teef and a craving for human flesh?"

"They do not crave human flesh!" Maisy said, leading them to the entrance of the beach, "And there hasn't been a shark spotted at this beach for years!"

"So dere has been one here?!"

"It's the ocean, Linn."

"So, Loki, odds of you verses shark? Whatcha fink?"

"I've never heard of a shark before so I don't know."

"You've never heard of sharks?" Maisy shook her head, "I'd show you the movie _Jaws_ but then you'd never want to come to the beach again."

She pulled up a picture on her phone and showed him a Great White. Perhaps not the best species of shark to start with as Loki swore loudly and then looked nervously at the ocean.

"Norns, what in all the realms is that thing? It looks like it has evil intent in its cold dead eyes. It wants my soul! I can feel its hatred for land dwellers!"

"Don't be so dramatic," Maisy showed him a Thresher Shark instead, "I've seen this kind in person before. It's kinda cute, right? Those big eyes?"

"No. Do you think we will encounter one of these beasts? I did not realize Midgard had any such creatures. I thought you only had squirrels, rats, birds, and domesticated pets or cattle."

"We really need to visit the zoo sometime."

Lugging their beach gear along with them, they made their way to the sand. Maisy picked up the umbrella awkwardly and jabbed the pole into the sand. Violently popping open, the umbrella jumped out of the sand and hit Loki in the chest. He fell back and sand flew everywhere.

"Accursed thing," he grumbled, putting the umbrella back and then helping Maisy spread out the ratty old quilt Ima had lent them to sit on. They held the blanket down with the cooler and bag of towels and Linn kicked off her sandals for good measure.

"Do you fink the sharks will eat me right away or go for dose little kids first?"

"You aren't going to get eaten by a shark," Maisy pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head, "Now put on your sunscreen and get in that water!"

Loki had already emptied half a bottle of sunscreen, smearing it across his front, arms, legs, and face. He looked even paler than usual with the thick cream all over his skin. Evidently he remembered his time working in the gardens of Asgard and did not want another sunburn.

"Would you get my back, darling?" He asked, offering Maisy the half empty bottle.

"Of course," she smiled, "Would you mind sitting down to make it easier?"

He sat, pretzel legged, on the blanket and smirked contentedly as she rubbed the lotion onto his back. "Oh yes, I think we really must get to the beach more often. This is quite fun."

"We haven't even gotten into the water yet!" Linn exclaimed, hastily covering patches of her skin with sunscreen. She had a big white blob on her nose and several splotches across her arms and shoulders.

"You can go ahead if you want," Maisy said, "We'll catch up."

"Uh… I fink I'll wait."

"The sharks aren't going to eat you. Even if any sharks did show up, they usually don't like to come close to shore."

"But just in case, I fink Loki's got a better chance of beating the crap out of a bitey fishy dan I do."

"That is probably true," Loki nodded.

"Oh my gosh. Would you two stop obsessing about sharks?"

Loki, sunscreen properly applied, stood up and took the lotion bottle from his wife.

"Your turn."

"I can get my front alright if you just get my back and shoulders," she reached for the bottle, but he held it out of her reach with a wink.

"You might miss a spot. I will be _most_ thorough."

"Will you now?" Maisy giggled.

"On second fought," Linn had gone red, "If a shark shows up I can just grab one of dose little kids and sacrifice dem."

She sprinted off toward the waves without a look back at her flirtatious friends.

After Maisy and Loki had finished with the sunscreen, Loki took a few steps away from their "camp" and stretched. Maisy sat on the blanket still and giggled. He always reminded her of a cat when he stretched in the sunshine. There was something about the way he moved and the quietly confident smirk he always wore.

Maisy stopped laughing when she heard giggling other than her own. Her eyes narrowed and she surveyed the other piles of towels and umbrellas around them. There! A trio of women were peeking over a colorful inner tube, staring at Loki as he raised his arms above his head. When he shook his hair out the giggling increased in volume as well as whispering. Loki, though normally quite observant, seemed completely oblivious to the women watching him. Maisy was not so lucky.

"What a beautiful day, hmm?" Loki asked bending over to touch his toes. There were gasps and more whispering. Maisy gripped the quilt beneath her, her fingernails relentlessly picking at a fraying seam.

"Yes. Beautiful."

"It almost makes me like the sunshine," he put his hands on his hips and leaned backward, causing the sun to glint off his muscles.

"Oh my gawsh," one of the women said a little too loudly, "Being that hot should be illegal."

Loki didn't even hear it. The seam Maisy was picking at split and one of the fabric triangles of the quilt fluttered away.

"Like, yum," another woman said, "I hope he doesn't move because I could stare at that all day."

They erupted in laughter, loud enough for Loki to finally take notice and look over his shoulder. He smiled softly and Maisy decided she'd had enough. She dug through the towel bag, found what she was looking for and marched over to her husband.

"Here. I think you should put this on. I'm already seeing some sunburns starting on your back. Better safe than sorry," she shoved a swim shirt at him. It'd come with the trunks, but they'd forgotten it until Maisy decided they needed it.

"Burns already?" Loki twisted, trying to get a good look at his back, "Perhaps you are right." He pulled the shirt over his head with agonizing slowness. The women groaned in disapproval of his now covered pectorals.

"There!" Maisy brightened, taking his hand possessively, "Much better!"

The pair of them kicked off their sandals and walked hand in hand toward the water. As they walked past the women there was more tee-heeing going on and Maisy's grip tightened, the corners of her mouth turning down.

"Don't worry," Loki leaned down to whisper, "I only have eyes for you, flattering as their stares may be."

"I'm not jealous!" Maisy snapped.

"I didn't say you were," he kissed her cheek, setting off disappointed sighs behind them, "Not that I'd mind very much."

"Oh shut up," she playfully hit his arm. After a moment she reached up to kiss him back, "But if I catch them ogling you again there's gonna be trouble."

"I don't doubt it."

"After all, I'm the winner of Taka af Brúðr. I know how to kick other girls' butts when they're trying to get my man," she huffed, sending another glare in the direction of the giggling women.

They made it to the shallows, where Linn was tentatively poking her toes in the soft wet sand. She stopped suddenly and bent to look at a seashell. Picking it up, she grinned and began combing the beach for more. She found several and reached for a big pink one right at the same time as a little toddler.

"Oh, uh," Linn didn't let go of the shell and neither did the toddler, "Actually, dat's mine…"

"Mine!" The toddler giggled, putting his other hand on the prize and beaming up at her.

"No, _mine_."

"Mine, mine, mine," the toddler tugged at the shell and looked at Linn curiously, wondering why she didn't give him what he wanted as every other person he'd ever encountered had done. "Mine."

"Sounds like those seagulls from _Finding Nemo_," Maisy commented, watching the teen and the toddler stare each other down over the big pink shell.

"Keathton, don't talk to strangers!" An orangish-tan woman with streaky brown and blonde hair and electric blue eyes smiled and rushed over to the toddler, a bag that said "Kale is My Junkfood" swinging from her arm.

"Mine!"

"Dat's my shell," Linn commented to the woman.

"Well, can't you just let him have it? It's just a shell."

"But—"

"He's only twenty-six months old, can't you just give him what he wants? He doesn't know any better," the orange woman flipped her hair over her shoulder and frowned at Linn.

Linn frowned back. "I'm only one hundred and eighty-three months old, can't you teach him that he can't have everything that he wants?"

Before the argument could escalate or Maisy and Loki could say anything, the ocean sloshed onto the beach and carried the big shell away. Linn sighed wistfully and stood up. The toddler was quiet a moment and then burst into tears. Linn jumped back in horror and the orange woman dove in for the kill.

"Why did you do that?!"

"What?"

"You threw his shell in the ocean!"

"I did not!" Linn put her hands on her hips and glared at the woman, "The ocean took it!"

"You broke little Keathton's heart! How could you? You monster!"

"Whoa, whoa," Maisy stepped in, "Ma'am, she didn't do anything! The ocean took the shell. It's just what the ocean _does_. Good grief."

"This ugly teenager threw it!"

"Nonsense!" Loki crossed his arms, "You are being absurd."

"She's absurd! Why didn't she give him the shell? Why did she have to throw it?"

"I didn't throw it!" Linn stomped her foot and sandy water splashed on Keathton, who wailed some more.

"Look what you've done! Disgusting!" The woman stepped toward Linn, one long fingernail pointed toward her like a dagger. Maisy stepped between the woman and Linn.

"Hey, it's not her fault okay? Sorry that Keathton can't have the shell, but that's tough. We're going to walk away now. Sorry," Maisy turned and began to herd Linn and Loki away.

"Where do you think you're going? You aren't even going to buy Keathton a popsicle to apologize?"

"Ignore her," Maisy whispered, "Keep walking. Keep walking."

"You owe him something! I'll call the police if you don't buy him a popsicle!"

"Keep walking, don't look back. Keep walking."

"Fine! I'll call the police!"

"Are you insane, woman?!" Loki spun around and Maisy facepalmed.

"Buy Keathton an ice pop!"

"Mooommmmmy!" Keathton sobbed, "Mine!"

"Shut up, Keathton," the mom said and then took a step toward Loki with her dagger fingernails, "I'm going to tell the police exactly what that little teenager of yours did. Is she your daughter? How old was that girlfriend of yours when she gave birth to that ugly brat? Ten?"

"I'm doing my best to refrain from throwing you in the ocean right now," Loki growled, "I suggest you take _your_ brat and leave."

The woman made a puppet with her hand, mocking Loki for speaking and then she snapped her fingers close with a click of her nails. "No, no, honey, you don't get to tell me what to do. _You_ are the one who harassed my child."

"Oh _honey_," Loki's fingernails grew a few centimeters to match hers and he mimicked her actions, "You think you can just boss around _my_ kid without consequences? You have another thing coming."

"We do not need a beach cat fight," Maisy muttered, "I think maybe we should go and come back some other time."

"He does know I'm not actually your daughter, right?" Linn asked, blushing.

"I have no idea what is going on in his head right now."

"I'm calling the police right now," the woman removed her phone from her bikini top and started dialing.

"With what phone?" Loki challenged knocking the cell phone into the water.

"I'm going to scratch your eyes out!" The woman snarled, lunging toward him, claws extended. Loki only smirked and snapped his fingers. A great white shark the size of a school bus burst out of the water and roared like a dinosaur. Keathton stopped crying and gaped at the creature in wonder.

There was a moment of silence on the beach before everyone ran for their cars screaming. One man sobbed "it's the Meg! It's the Meg!" and the orange woman screamed "he's freaking Aquaman, run Keathton!" Loki stood next to the shark with his hands on his hips and a grin on his face, chuckling darkly as the beach emptied out.

Maisy pinched the bridge of her nose and walked over to her husband. She smacked his arm and he just laughed. Linn stared, wide eyed at the shark before realizing that it was an illusion and swatting at it with her hands. Finding that she could walk through it she waited for the mouth to open and then hurled herself in with a scream.

"Aaaah! Da shark is eatin' me! I'm fish food!"

"Sharks don't roar," Maisy crossed her arms and raised a brow, "And they aren't that big."

"Did it not give us a private beach?"

"Well, yes."

"And did it not remove Keathton and his irritating mother?"

"It did."

"I don't see the problem."

"The problem is that those people are going to call the Coast Guard or the Navy or something. Or the Avengers. Do you really want Mr. Stark to get a call about a giant shark in California and send Bruce and Thor over here to deal with it?"

"It will take them hours to get here. I say we have some fun in the sun and then leave before we can get in trouble."

As this wasn't a completely horrible idea, Maisy simply shrugged and they continued with their beach day. Linn found so many shells that she filled their towel bag with them. She quickly took all of the shells out when she found out that one of them housed a hermit crab. At first she was afraid of the hermit crab and was terrified that all of her shells would grow legs, but then she followed him around the beach long enough that she decided he was cool and she began checking her other shells for inhabitants.

Maisy mostly enjoyed floating in the ocean and jumping off a big rock to splash Loki. She hadn't been to the beach in forever and she was loving sharing the experience with him.

He splashed around in the water with her for a while before his sunscreen began to wash off and he decided to sit under the umbrella and catch up with reading instead. It didn't take long for Maisy to join him, snuggling up against his side and taking a nap.

Linn ignored their cuddling and kept looking for hermit crabs. Eventually, she found three more hermit crabs, a starfish, a regular crab, and a curious seagull that she befriended with a handful of pretzels. With these creatures assembled, the teenager led them in a glorious battle against the giant illusion shark. Loki kept the shark moving with bored flicks of his fingers, never lifting his eyes from the pages of his books.

"I am a god, ya dull beast," Linn told the shark, "Burdened with glorious porpoises and stuff! You ain't got nothing on me! Take that!"

She stabbed at it with a piece of driftwood she'd found and Loki made the shark fall over and it's tongue loll out. Linn raised her "sword" in triumph and led her army of beach creatures in a victory lap around the body. The starfish was swept out to sea this way and the big crab lost interest, but she still had the seagull and four hermit crabs… until the seagull ate one of the hermit crabs and the other three went into hiding.

At that point, the little group could hear sirens approaching and they saw a helicopter on the horizon. Maisy announced that it was time to go and they packed up and hopped back in the Jeep. Speeding down the road, they passed an official looking black SUV that was headed for the beach and hoped that whatever government agent was driving it wouldn't notice their sandy skin and swimwear.

The ride back to the Sichore home was peaceful and filled with the contentment that came after a good day. Sure they were sandy and a bit itchy, and more than a little sunburnt, but they were also sleepy and enjoying the cool breeze and sunset. Linn was falling asleep in the back, her hair gently blowing across her forehead as she made tired motions with her hands, mimicking the movement of the waves. Maisy smiled softly as she drove, listening to the quiet music on the radio. And Loki decided that, in spite of annoying toddlers, their mothers, the painful sunburns, and the sand in places where sand should not be, he quite enjoyed the beach. Perhaps Midgard was not _always_ inferior to Asgard. It certainly had its charm.

"Did you enjoy yourself?" Maisy asked him.

"Mm," he nodded shaking some of the sand out of his hair, "We ought to do this every summer."

"I could get behind that," she turned down the radio volume a bit more and glanced in the rear view mirror to see Linn had fallen completely asleep, a pair of sunglasses barely holding on to her nose. "Next time maybe we could try surfing. I think Linn would like that."

"What does surfing entail?"

"You get a board and you ride the waves with it," she grinned, "It feels like flying."

"Riding the waves? That does sound fun," he yawned and stretched his arms above his head, resting one on Maisy's shoulders as she drove, "Thank you for sharing this piece of your world with me."

"Oh," she blushed a bit, "You're welcome. I'm glad you had a good time. It was nice to show you a bit of my childhood."

"I… I am sorry about the giant shark."

"Yeah… maybe don't do that next time," Maisy laughed. Loki laughed to and that seemed like a good way to end the day, but suddenly Iron Man whooshed overhead, quickly followed by Thor and the Quinjet. Maisy hit the brakes, gaping at the super heroes and then turned to Loki. "Uh, you didn't leave the shark on the beach, did you?"

"My dearest wife, I suggest you, as they say in Midgard, 'floor it'. I'd hate to be around when they find out the shark is an illusion and then start pointing fingers at who could have possibly made such an illusion."

Maisy considered how mad the Avengers might be when they found out that Loki terrorized a beach full of people and she hit the gas.

**A note from the author: Thanks for reading! I'm so glad you decided to join me in this crazy after the story adventure. This one shot is not supposed to take place at any particular time. It is neither before nor after the events of the main story, or even during. It just... is. It's fanfiction, it doesn't have to fit any timeline lol. I hope you enjoyed it and all of the silly beach shenanigans that our friends got up to.**

**As I said in the last chapter of To Have and To Hold, I hope to do many more of these one shots as well as some deleted scenes I have and possibly even some reviewer/character Q&A's if you guys would be up for that. Or even just some silly fourth wall breaking drabbles. Basically, whatever kooky thoughts about these characters pop into my thinker will probably end up here. And if you have any story ideas feel free to suggest them. I'm not going to guarantee that I'll get to them, but I don't mind a bit of inspiration if there is something you'd like to see.**

**It'll mostly be fluff and nonsense, but I can't promise you that there won't be a teeny tiny bit of angst too... because I literally cannot stop myself from coming up with angsty stories.**

**Okay, I think that's enough of my blabbering. I will see you all in the next one shot, which I'll hopefully post in a week or so. Have a great week until then! :)**


	2. Blaze's Day Off

It was rare that Blaze had a moment free of maiming, murdering, and making malevolent machinations. Surtur kept her busy because he knew that if she got bored then she would probably set important things (or people) on fire just to see what would happen. That suited the woman just fine on most days because she knew there were only so many things she could burn before she got herself into serious trouble. However, there was one day a year that she always requested to have to herself.

The anniversary of her mother's death hurt Blaze's cold heart no matter how much she tried to ignore it. For every other day of the year she could forget that she had emotions beyond glee and anger, but on that one day she allowed herself some sadness. The Muspelheim psychiatrist said it was healthier than denying her feelings about her mother's death completely.

Just like every year, Blaze went before her king and requested time off. Surtur may have been a cruel fire giant with destructive plans for the universe, but he did take care of his own. With a sad smile, he nodded at her request and even offered her the use of Muspelheim's old beat up Bifrost if she wanted to get off realm for a while.

"Thanks, sir. I think I will," she clapped a fist to her heart and bowed respectfully.

"Of course," he nodded, "Just be sure to return before tomorrow evening. I would like for you to lead a raid against a Light Elf tribe."

"I promise I'll be back by then, my king."

With a few more respectful nods, Blaze left. She went to the Beat Up Bifrost and Jeff (Muspelheim's non-omnipotent version of Heimdall) grouchily sent her to Midgard for the day. It wasn't that Blaze had any special connection with the middle realm, but when she'd last been in New York she had spotted a place she wanted to spend time.

True to its nature the Beat Up Bifrost spit her out in the middle of a dangerous situation. On one side of her there were criminals with guns and on the other side there were police officers with even more guns. It looked like a massive shootout was about to occur, but Blaze didn't really feel like being in the middle of it.

"Who the hell are you?!" One of the policemen shouted, startled by her sudden, explosive appearance in the middle of the New York street.

"I'm, uh, a superhero. In training," she grinned charmingly at him, "Here to calm down this situation."

"You're a superhero?"

"This chick doesn't look like no Avenger to me," one of the criminals spat, "If she doesn't get out of the way I'm gonna make her into Swiss cheese!"

"Miss, I'm going to need you to step aside and show me some ID."

"I'd rather not," Blaze grinned, "But I can show you a good time!"

She threw fireballs at both sides of the conflict in rapid succession until police and criminals alike were scampering away from the heat. The orange and black clad woman in the middle of it all laughed until she began to choke on smoke. When it was clear that she had created a bigger problem than she'd meant to, she kicked a nearby fire hydrant with her Asgardian-Elven strength. Water gushed out onto the street and put out some of the flames, but Blaze didn't bother to stick around after kicking the hydrant.

She had a destination in mind and no stupid gang or police force was going to get in the way of her day off. Fluffing her red hair as she walked, she made her way to Central Park. Once there, she located the pond she'd seen before and a bench with a good view of it.

Stretching out her legs and laying her sword next to her (in case anyone was stupid enough to interrupt her), she watched the water. Even being a peaceful place, the little pond was not still for a moment. Waterbugs skittered across the surface and fish popped up to eat them. Gentle breezes blew the tall grasses and a child on the other side giggled as she raced a little plastic boat against a leaf.

With a deep breath, Blaze closed her eyes and opened up her heart to the emotions that she usually held at bay. It was crushing, just like every year, to think of how she would never speak to her mother again. To imagine how Drin's horrid "pet" bilgesnipe had ripped the kind woman apart. To remember Tyr's disgusted sneer as he ordered someone to clean up the gory mess - as if Blaze's mother was nothing but a stain on his shirt.

Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes and she let them fall. She wiped her nose with the back of her hand and let every feeling consume her. Just like every other year she'd spent this day grieving, she felt like the tears and the emotions would never stop. Mostly she felt sadness and heartache, but anger at her father crept in every few minutes. It took a lot of effort not to let flames lick the wooden bench when Tyr's face crept in front of her mind's eye. But his image went away just as quickly as it came, replaced by her mother's giddy smile and pointed ears.

Blaze's mother had been beautiful. Golden eyes, red hair, tan skin, and that perfect, perfect smile that always made it seem like everything would be alright. Even when they spent the night scrubbing floors until their knees bled or polished furniture until they could hardly keep their eyes open - even then her mother's smile helped Blaze keep smiling too. And they made it through their servitude in Tyr's house. They made it through Drin, Blaze's half brother, kicking mud at them. They even made it through the lady of the house noticing that Blaze looked an awful lot like Tyr and having both of them whipped until they couldn't walk. They made it. Until Drin brought that cursed beast home and lost control of it.

"Idiot," Blaze snarled through her tears, "Bloody idiot. I wish I'd killed him myself."

But the Midgardian girl had gotten that honor and she'd probably thrown up her supper after doing it. Wimp. If she couldn't handle a little blood shed then she'd never make it as the trickster's wife. If Blaze had gotten to kill her brother then she would have laughed while doing it and kicked his charred corpse when he stopped burning.

Of course, Tyr was responsible for his son's behavior, but Blaze had no desire to kill the man who'd sired her. She wanted him dead, but she had never wanted to kill him herself. She was quite pleased with how his end had turned out. Loki, as Odin, had impaled him with Gungnir. Tyr never knew it was the prince. He thought his oldest and most loyal friend had turned his back on him. Just like Tyr had turned his back on his motherless daughter. There couldn't have been a more fitting death for the nobleman.

It occured to Blaze, suddenly, that she was completely without family. Her mother, slaughtered. Her brother, killed by a human. Her father impaled at "Odin's" hand. Unless Tyr had fathered other children (which was entirely possible) with other servants as their mothers, Blaze had no blood relations left in the world. She supposed she might have grandparents back on Alfheim, but she doubted it. All of her biological family was dead and even her brother in arms, Egil, was in his grave (well, actually, he was in a cage above Surtur's throne room).

Though she didn't think she really needed anyone, for some reason the thought of being alone saddened her. It brought more tears and snot. Next year she'd have to bring a handkerchief.

She kept crying for an hour or so before she finally pulled herself together. Taking a deep breath, she looked out over the pond and then leaned back and stared at the sky through the trees. She knew she couldn't spend all day emoting, but there was one last tradition that she had to follow through with. A quick conversation with her mother always made her feel ready for the year ahead of her.

"Well Mom," Blaze watched the fluffy clouds move, "I miss you. I always miss you, but today's the worst. As usual."

There was a quiet quacking sound, but Blaze ignored it.

"Not gonna lie, this year is going to be worse than before-"

_Quack._

She furrowed her brow, but continued.

"Egil's dead. He was kind of like family to me. Until he freaking tried to kill me, of course, but that was just because-"

_Quack!_

"-because he was upset about his girlfriend," she sat up straighter, "And I've got no one else. I miss you so damn much and-"

_QUACK!_

"Alright," Blaze hopped to her feet and picked up her sword, whirling around, "Who is trying to ruin my nice moment?!"

A brown duck waddled out from the high grass and quacked again. Blaze laughed, slightly annoyed, but planning on ignoring the bird. She sheathed her sword and shook her head, planning on finding a less occupied spot to finish speaking with her mother. But after a moment she heard more tiny little quacks and four fluffy ducklings followed the female duck out of the grass.

They were perfect. Brown and yellow with little black beaks and webbed feet. Blaze gasped in surprise and took a step back to give them some space. She watched them, a smile growing on her face, and sat down on the grass to make herself a less intimidating figure.

The mother duck snapped at her children and they waddled curiously around Blaze, always staying a safe distance away. Then they all seemed to nod at her and waddle away from the pond. Wondering where they could be going, Blaze slowly followed them.

They waddled all through the park and then came to the edge, right by a busy street. Watching the traffic carefully, the mother duck quacked irritably. There was clearly no way they were going to be able to cross the street without help. Blaze tightened her sword sheath on her back and took a step out into the busy road. She made a huge fireball in each hand and roared as loud as she was able. Traffic came to a screeching, honking stop, leaving a perfect path for a mother and four baby ducks to walk across.

The little family crossed the street and Blaze followed them, allowing traffic to resume. People gave her odd looks and she gave them rude gestures in return, a happy smile plastered on her face.

Once the ducks made it to the sidewalk across the street the mother realized that there was not a pond there. Only cement and fast walking people. The birds turned around and looked at the road again, waiting for an opening. Blaze cheerfully stepped back out into the rushing traffic and repeated her performance from a few moments before.

The mother and baby ducks quacked in appreciation and the pyromaniac nodded respectfully. Almost across the street, one of the ducklings tripped on a pebble and peeped pitifully, unable to figure out how to stand up. The mother duck turned around to help her offspring, setting the duckling back on its feet. Then she ushered the babies forward with her beak and began to follow after them. Just as she was nearly back into the park, one of the cars from the angry traffic jam laid on the horn, startling all of the ducks. Blaze glared and took a step closer to that car, but before she could incinerate the angry driver, he laughed and hit the gas… heading straight for the family of ducks.

Blaze screamed and leapt to protect her new friends. She managed to scoop up the ducklings, but the mother was too far separated from them. Covering the little one's eyes, Blaze had to watch as the beautiful quacking bird was squashed by a tire. Feathers and blood went everywhere, and there was only one more pitiful quack of distress before silence fell.

It was not quiet for long.

"No! No, no, no! You'll regret that!"

Setting the ducklings safely aside, Blaze sprinted to catch up with the heinous vehicle and its driver. She grabbed the bumper and dug her heels into the ground. It came to a squealing stop and the smell of burnt rubber mingled with the smell of duck blood. Jumping on the roof of the car, Blaze didn't even bother to look the murderer in the face before stabbing her sword through the windshield and impaling the middle aged man inside. His dark suit grew darker still with the red liquid oozing from his chest. A coffee dropped from his hand and his eyes rolled back as he breathed his last.

Satisfied with her vengeance, Blaze jumped off of the car and returned to the now orphaned ducklings. The bundles of fluff were quivering and peeping miserably, looking for their mother.

"Oh no," Blaze resheathed her sword and quickly crouched down to their level. They jumped and fluttered their tiny wings in surprise. Moving more slowly, Blaze reached out to them and offered them her hand. The ducklings regarded it suspiciously, but one of them, who had more brown feathers than the rest, finally nuzzled his beak against her thumb. The rest followed suit and one of them even climbed up into her palm.

Smiling softly, she set the duckling down and took off her leather, Midgardian styled jacket. She laid it on the ground and ushered the small bodies into the center of it. Scooping them all up in her makeshift sling, she carried them back to the park. There was a sound of sirens behind her, but she ignored it. The police would be looking for her because she'd stabbed that murderous driver, but that was no concern of hers. She could cut down anyone who got in her way.

The pond where she'd originally met the duck family was quiet. There were no other ducks around and not even any people. Blaze looked around for any male mallards that might be the father to her friends, but found nothing. Eventually she managed to locate where their nest was, identifying it by the egg shell remains and the feathers, but it was empty.

"Orphans," Blaze looked down at her bundle and sighed, "I'm so sorry, friends. You'll have to fend for yourselves. It won't be easy, but if I could do it then you'll make it. Use your skills. Stay together. Help each other. You are now brothers and sisters in arms… err wings. Fight together. Destroy together. You will survive together."

She bent down to leave them at their nest, feeling the sadness coil in her gut again. But what else could she do? She was a lieutenant of Surtur and these were balls of feathers.

"Goodbye, my friends. Beaks up. Be brave…"

_Peep, peep, peep, peep!_

"I cannot stay. I must lead a raid on Alfheim tomorrow."

_Peep?_

"It is where the Light Elves live. Where my mother is from. She was cast out by her tribe leader and she moved to Asgard in search of work. I suppose I ought to feel bad about raiding a tribe on Alfheim since I might have kin there, but I don't care," Blaze stroked each of the ducklings' heads gently, "I really must go, friends. I can't take you with me."

_Peep…_

"Don't sound so sad! It's for the best! You wouldn't want to hang around someone as horrible as myself. Odds are that someone will run me through one of these days and then where would you be?"

_Peep, peep!_

"I can't! You are too sweet to get involved with me."

She got up to leave them and started walking away, trying to ignore how her eyes filled with water. As she started to walk away she heard a sound. It was a really annoying buzzing-rotating-engine-y sound. When she turned to see what it was she gasped in horror.

A gardener was using a weed whacker to cut back some of the taller grass around the pond. He was headed straight for the ducklings, who peeped in distress. Conflicted, Blaze looked back and forth between the gardener and her new friends. As the weed wacker got closer the babies got louder, begging for her help.

"Alright! Alright!" She lunged forward and cut the weed whacker in half. The gardener screamed and dropped the broken pieces of his tool. Blaze ignored him, picking up the ducklings in her jacket again.

"Lady, what the hell?!"

"You were going to whack my friends!"

"Oh," he saw the birds and scratched his head awkwardly, "Sorry about that. But you didn't have to go and cut my weed whacker in half! That's gonna come out of my paycheck!"

"Do I look like I care? Be glad I didn't cut you in half." Blaze turned away from him, ducklings in her arms, and marched away from the pond. She stroked the baby birds to calm them and carried them out of the park. She noticed that police had surrounded the scene of her vengeance. Yellow tape was everywhere so Blaze turned and walked down the sidewalk in the opposite direction.

As she walked, keeping her eyes peeled for something that would make a better carrier, she kept glancing down at them to make sure they were okay. When she'd seen them faced with danger she realized that they could not be left on their own at this fragile stage in their lives. They'd just lost their mother and Blaze related. She had always wanted someone to take her in when her mother had died, but no one had. Odin had even cast her out of Asgard! That wouldn't happen to these lovely birdies. Blaze made up her mind then and there that she would raise them and train them in the ways of the world. They would become the fiercest ducks in all the realms and she would love them like her mother had loved her.

"You'll need names, of course," she told them, "I'm sure your mother gifted you with lovely names, but I do not understand the language of ducks so I must come up with new titles for you."

_Peep?_

"You shall be Coal," she told the duckling that was mostly covered in brown feathers.

He ruffled his feathers excitedly.

"And you will be Inferno," she tapped the one that was almost completely yellow, "Do you like that?"

_Peep!_

"Good girl," Blaze smirked, "You will be Spark."

This duckling had little tufts of yellow that sparked across his back and neck. He flapped his wings excitedly.

"And finally," she tapped her chin and regarded the last of her children, "You will be Glow."

Glow, the tiniest of the ducklings, seemed to nod her tiny head, her eyes glowing even though the only color they held was black.

With the babies named, Blaze returned to searching the streets of New York for something that could hold them all comfortably while she walked around. Her eyes eventually landed on a smiling woman who was biking. The pretty blue bike had flowers, streamers, and a basket on the front. Blaze grinned and the woman smiled back, backpedaling to stop when she spotted the ducklings.

"Oh my gosh! They are so cute! Are they your pets?"

"They are my children now. Their mother was brutally murdered by a motorist."

"That's terrible!"

"Agreed," Blaze supposed she could just ask the woman politely for the basket on her bike. She might even give it to her if she told her that it was for the ducklings. But Blaze was far out of the habit of asking politely, "I'll be needing this."

She ripped the basket off the bike.

"What?!"

"Thanks," Blaze smirked and kicked the bike, knocking the woman over, "Good thing you wore a helmet, huh?"

"Ow!"

Ignoring the fallen biker, Blaze placed Coal, Inferno, Spark, and Glow into the basket. She slipped her jacket back on and then looked around for something to use to strap the basket around her hips. She wanted to have both hands free in case the police caught up with her and she needed to use her sword. Nothing in her line of vision seemed like it would work so she kept walking.

As she walked she spotted a store that said "Pet Paradise" on the outside. It appeared to be a shop that carried supplies for animals. She kicked the jangling door open and carried her basket of ducks inside. The clerk looked up in surprise.

"H-hello. Can I help you?"

"Yes. And you will if you'd like for your head to stay attached to your neck," she leaned in and read his name tag, "Ted."

"Ha...ha. You come from a convention or something? Who are you cosplaying as?"

"Tell me, Ted, what do I need to care for them?" she gestured to the ducks, setting their basket down on the counter. They peeped excitedly when they saw a new person.

"Whoa. Cute! I didn't know you could get pet ducks in New York City."

"What do I need to care for them?"

"Uh, I don't know. I think you might need to look at a farm supply store or something. You'll have to get out of the city to find one of those though."

"You are useless," Blaze scoffed, pulling out her sword and touching the tip to his throat, "C'mon now Ted. Tell me at least what ducklings eat."

"That sword looks really real," Ted put his hands up, "Did you make it yourself?"

"No, idiot, do I look like a blacksmith to you?"

"I don't know!"

"Just tell me what ducks eat."

"I can Google it!"

"Then do so. And do not try anything funny, Ted."

He pulled out a phone and quickly typed something into it. Then he held the screen to face her and pointed at it. She leaned forward to read. It seemed they needed fruits, "feed", water, and mealworms, among other things.

"Do you carry any of this in this shop?"

"We've got mealworms," Ted swallowed nervously, "And bird feed. I don't know if that will work or not."

"We shall try it."

Ted brought her a small styrofoam box filled with live mealworms and a bag of bird feed. He also handed her a bottle of water. She nodded her thanks and then left without paying. There was a bench across the street so she went and sat on it, feeding her babies with the worms and the water. While she gently cared for them she noticed a car pull up and park halfway on the sidewalk in front of the pet store. It was a beat up old vehicle that sputtered and wheezed as the owner turned it off and climbed out. He slammed the door behind him, leaving the windows rolled up.

It was probably wise to leave one's car windows up in a city as busy as this one, so Blaze didn't fault him for that. However, she did fault him when she saw a dog's head looking longingly out the window. It was a rather warm day in the beginning of June and not the kind of weather that would let you leave a dog trapped in a car comfortably.

"He'd better return to his car quickly or he and I are going to be having a conversation," Blaze grumbled, giving Spark another worm, "And I get the feeling he won't like that conversation."

_Peep, peep, peep, peep._

"You're right. We'll give him a chance to realize his mistake. He's probably just running in to get a treat for that dog."

But the man was gone for twenty minutes and Blaze was not patient. She held the basket close to her chest and approached the vehicle. Peering inside at the dog - a beagle - she tightened her grip on her basket and felt rage boiling.

The dog had scrapes and scratches all along his sides. One of his ears had a hole in and his nose was rubbed raw at the end. His tail was bent at an odd angle and his toenails had been ripped from his toes. He wore a heavy shock collar and he was panting heavily. On top of everything else he was so skinny that Blaze could make out every one of his ribs.

The door to the pet store jangled again and the man came out, glaring at Blaze. She glared back.

"Hey, get away from my car!"

"Is this your dog?" She asked calmly.

"It was my girlfriend's. She doesn't want it anymore."

"Why not?"

"It got warts on its face."

Blaze could see the little black warts. There were only a few, under the dog's eyes and one on top of his head.

"So you are taking him to the vet, right? To get treated for that and for his other maladies?"

"No, it's not sick. Just butt ugly," the man laughed and took a step closer to her, "I was just asking that wimp in the pet shop if he knew where any places are that would put it down for me."

"Put him down?"

"Y'know. Kill it."

"Why?!"

"Nobody wants a dog that looks like that."

"He wouldn't look so terrible if you hadn't treated him so horribly!" She jabbed the window with her finger, "You gave him all of those scratches, didn't you?!"

"No, he got those himself," the man lied, eyes narrowing, "Get out of my way, lady. I've got to take this thing to be put out of its misery."

"He's only in misery because you hurt him!" Blaze grabbed the man by the arm and twisted him around. She set her basket of ducklings on the roof of his car and grabbed her sword.

"Whoa! Whoa! Calm down! There's no need to lose your head about this!"

"You disgust me," she kicked the back of his legs and brought him to his knees. Someone watching cheered, filming her with a phone. She'd have to deal with that later.

"It's just a dog! You want it? I'll sell it to you! Or you can take it for free!"

"I think I will," she snarled at him, "But I want to make sure you can't ever do this to another dog again."

"What are you going to do?"

"Oh calm down," she snickered and lowered her sword, "After all, there's no need to lose your head about this, right?"

With a quick slice the man's neck was severed and his head rolled under the car. The people who had been cheering for her a moment ago screamed in terror and ran away. Blaze kicked the body and then smashed the window of the car open. The dog wagged his broken tail weakly and nervously approached her. She held out her hand for him to sniff and he licked her.

"Hello darling," she scratched him behind the ears and helped him climb out of the car. Taking the shock collar off and stealing a nice new one from the pet store, she looped his leash around her wrist after she put her sword away. Then she ripped out one of the car's seat belts and used it to tie the duckling basket to her waist. The babies peeped at her and looked over the edge of the basket at the dog, seeming to greet him.

"We should probably get out of here before the police show up. Surtur might get pissed if I kill too many people on my day off," she walked the dog and the ducklings away from the car and then threw a fireball at the engine. Then, realizing that it was close to the pet store, she kicked the vehicle down the road quite a ways, where it rolled to a stop in front of a liquor store. That would make for an exciting explosion.

Walking away from the crime she'd committed, she made her way to a secluded alley and sat down on the grimey cement. The dog whimpered in pain when he tried to wag his tail and Blaze realized that she needed to get him to a veterinarian before she left earth.

"You'll need a name, of course," she pet him and he licked her hand, "I've used most of the fire words that I know on these cuties."

The dog stuck his head in the basket and gently licked each of the ducklings on the head. Blaze watched carefully to make sure all of her new friends got along, but Spark, Coal, Glow, and Inferno all loved the attention and they picked at his ears with their beaks.

"I could name you Egil Junior," she commented, but quickly shook her head when she saw the dog's sweet gaze. "No, you aren't anything like him. "What about Lyall? It means wolf."

The dog sneezed in a disagreeable manner.

"You are right. That's too obvious. The tag on your old collar said you were called Fido, but that is idiotic. You need a new title. Something more fitting of your station."

He barked.

"You really are majestic, aren't you? Such a good boy," she tapped her chin in thought, tapping her booted foot, "We could call you Thor. That's a good name, right? Good enough for the prince of Asgard. That might get confusing though… I've got it! We'll call you Thorbert!"

He tilted his head to the side.

"Isn't it great? It suits you I think."

Thorbert wagged his wounded tail and Blaze scratched him behind the ears again. The ducklings peeped happily, hopping around in their basket. Blaze let them out so they could play with Thorbert for a little while and all of her new friends got along swimmingly. Thorbert chased them around in circles and then they chased him. Blaze watched the whole thing, laughing.

When they wore themselves out, she helped Glow, Inferno, Spark, and Coal back into the basket and snapped Thorbert's leash back onto his collar. Then they all headed out. She grabbed the next person she saw by the throat and ordered him to Google the nearest veterinary clinic. Once he told them and then ran away Blaze led her young ones in the direction the Google Map had shown. When they got there, it was closed and Blaze growled in frustration.

"Why the bloody hell are you closed?!" She bellowed at the windows, "If you didn't take care of sick dogs I would burn this place to the ground!"

No response.

"Whatever. I know where I can get Thorbert healed."

She led her friends all the way back to Central Park and looked up at the sky. She knew Jeff back in Muspelheim could not see her. He did not have Heimdall's abilities so he would just pull Blaze back to her world when Surtur ordered him to. But even if Loki had replaced Heimdall on Asgard, the new person would still be able to hear when the Bifrost was called for. It was up for debate whether or not this new person would let her onto the planet, but she was sure Loki would allow it, knowing that she could spill his secrets whenever she wanted.

"Hello?! Heimdall? Or whoever? Let me up! I've got to talk with your king!"

She yelled at the sky for a whole minute before the clouds parted and the Bifrost descended, collecting Blaze, Thorbert, Coal, Inferno, Spark, and Glow. She came face to face with a man in black armor. He had black tattoos on his bald head and a goatee. There were a few Asgardian ladies behind him as well as a stash of items from across the cosmos, mostly earthen junk.

"Who are you?" Blaze wrinkled her nose. The ducklings were strapped to her hip, which meant her hand was free to grab her sword if she needed it.

"I am the Gatekeeper. Skurge."

"Really? They replaced Heimdall with _you_?"

"Heimdall is a criminal."

"Of course he is," Blaze rolled her eyes and bent to pet Thorbert, "Whatever. I don't care. I want to talk to Odin."

"What are you? You're dressed as a Midgardian but you look like one of us."

"I'm a minion of Surtur's. Odin's expecting me though. At least, he should be. Always. He and I have a bargain sort of thing going on."

"Let me call for guards to escort you-"

"Not necessary, I know the way."

"But-"

"You call for guards and you, the ladies, and all of your stuff take a dip in the void at the end of the Rainbow Bridge, eh?"

"You're just one girl- ow! Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!"

Blaze twisted his ear and then kicked him in the groin.

"Thanks. I'll show myself the door," she whistled at Thorbert, who was sniffing Skurge curiously, "C'mon boy. Let's get your booboos taken care of, hmm?"

Thorbert padded along behind her happily. The ducklings all peeped impatiently and Blaze decided they might like a walk. They made quite the procession heading for the palace of Asgard. Thorbert followed along right behind Blaze and behind him the ducklings waddled happily. It was slow progress and Skurge recovered from his pain before they made it far.

He watched them go and shook his head. The lady visitors he had watched him with raised brows and he sighed.

"Uh, right," he cleared his throat, "I should probably go let the Allfather know that a crazy woman is on her way to the palace," he frowned and then smiled at the women, "But first let me tell you about Tex-ass."

* * *

Loki was busy. Ridiculously busy. It seemed that every single person in the realm wanted his opinion on something that day. Well, not _his_ opinion, obviously, but Odin's thoughts on matters were in high demand. Common citizens wanted him to help them with farming issues and market issues. Noble citizens wanted him to make decisions about property rights and who owned what. Ambassadors from other realms wanted him to sit with them and work on alliances or treaties.

All he really wanted to do was to go back to his and Maisy's room and watch her embroider baby blankets while he griped about how terrible his day had been. But he couldn't do that because just as he wrapped up with one ambassador, another one requested his attention. It was exhausting, even if the resolutions he came up with were satisfying. If kingly life kept up like this then Loki could see why the Odinsleep was necessary. He no longer blamed his adoptive father for taking week long naps when things got a little hairy. Of course, Loki would have never picked the moment his son found out he was adopted to fall into a deep sleep, but he could see escaping other things.

Finally finishing his discussion with the Vanaheim ambassador, Loki closed the door to his study. He rested his head on his desk and closed his eyes, intent on dozing for a few moments. It was no Odinsleep, but it might give him enough energy to deal with all of the petty nobles that would be at dinner.

Just as he began to fall asleep there was an angry rapping at the door. He groaned and donned his Odin disguise once more. Lifting his head from the table he called for the person outside to enter. The door flew open and Blaze burst in.

"Oh Norns, not you," he gestured for her to close the door and she did, but not after a dog followed her inside. At her hip there was a basket full of ducklings. Loki raised a brow.

"Hey princey," she smiled at him, fluffing her hair, "How's life as king?"

"Fine. What do you want? How'd you get in?"

"I didn't kill anyone, don't worry. There are several guards stuffed in a broom closet and Skurge might be in a bit of pain, but everyone's still alive."

"And you've come to Asgard because…?"

"Right. You were never one for pleasantries," she bent down and picked up the dog, setting it on the desk and patting its head, "This is Thorbert."

"He looks like he might die at any moment," Loki commented, noticing how beat up and skinny the creature was, "What did you do to him?"

"I rescued him from an idiot Midgardian," Blaze declared proudly, "While I'm here I might as well introduce you to my other friends as well. Spark, Coal, Inferno, and Glow."

"The ducks?"

"Yes. Try to keep up."

"And why have you brought all of these… pets to me?"

"They aren't pets," Blaze snapped and then gestured to Thorbert the dog, "I brought them here because I want you to heal my guy here. His tail is all out of whack and he's got all these cuts all over him."

"I am not a healer or an animal doctor."

"But you have magic."

"Surely you could have taken him to someone in Muspelheim. Egil was not the only sorcerer there."

"No, but I don't trust any of the others. They all enjoy seeing things in pain too much."

"Is everyone in Surtur's realm sick and sadistic?"

"Mostly, yes," she softly booped the dog's nose, "Can you fix my friend or not?"

"Why should I?"

"If you don't I'll find Thor and tell him that you aren't dead."

"Very well," Loki sighed and summoned as much healing magic as he was able. He directed it toward Thorbert and did his best to bring comfort to the dog. His broken tail straightened and began to wag. When Loki had finished the hound licked his face appreciatively.

"Aw, look at you!" Blaze cooed, "All better, right? Right? Oh! Such a good boy!"

_Bark!_

"He still needs food," Loki commented, "You are welcome to take some scraps from the kitchen if you'd like."

"No, no," Blaze waved the idea away, "He needs to get used to Muspelheim food."

"You mean the food you steal from other realms because nothing is meant to live or grow on Muspelheim? That food?"

"Yes! Exactly," she winked at him and turned to go, but then turned at the last second, "One last thing, princey."

"What?"

"Do you know any spells that will fireproof my friends? I know you must. Egil knew some. He fireproofed me. I can walk around in a volcano barefoot. Can you do something like that?"

"I suppose," Loki sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "I hope you realize how utterly ridiculous you are being. Ducklings? Really? And a dog?"

"Yes really," she snapped, "Now fireproof them."

He did as she asked, more for the poor creatures' sakes than for Blaze. It wasn't these animals' faults that a crazy woman had stolen them from Midgard and was going to make them live in one of the most dangerous realms.

"There. They ought to be able to withstand heat just as well as you can."

"Excellent! Thanks, princey! I'll leave you alone now. It's my day off after all and I don't want to waste time with you."

"Of course not," Loki rolled his eyes as she walked away. He was too tired to fully process what had just happened so he went back to napping. When he told Maisy about it later she seemed to think that Blaze was turning over a new leaf. Perhaps she would become a better person with such sweet creatures influencing her.

That's what Maisy thought until they found the three guards Blaze had stuffed in a closet were all dead and not just incapacitated. And Blaze had also set several houses on fire on her way out of town. So maybe not a new leaf.

**A note from the author: This is something no one asked for and no one wanted. But way back in Chapter 87 of Till Death Do You Part, Loki is trying to make everyone think he's the worst person to ever exist and he says something about murdering ducklings and Blaze says "not the ducklings" in horror. And as I was rereading some chapters looking for details that I needed for THATH, I saw that line and an idea was born. So we get Blaze as a mother duck. You're welcome?**

**I'm not sure if we'll see anymore of Blaze and her new friends or not. If I think of another story with our resident ****homicidal****-pyromaniac then the ducklings and Thorbert will probably make an appearance.**

**"Finally, you posted my story," Blaze bursts into my room and starts flipping through books and getting soot all over the pages, "It's about time, SnowGlobeBean."**

**"Do you have anything you want to say to the people who read it?" I snatch my book back.**

**"You have good taste for reading a story about me," Blaze winks at you guys, "Well done."**

**"And?"**

**"And what? I already complimented them, what else do you want from me?"**

**"Manners, Blaze."**

**"Oh right," she fluffs her hair, "Thanks, I guess. Although, you should really be thanking me for allowing you to see this snapshot of my soft cuddly side. Not everyone gets to see it, you know? And by the way, if you tell anyone I'll set you on fire."**

**"Blaze!"**

**"Later, weirdos!" Blaze jumps out my window and skips down the street, kicking mailboxes as she goes.**

**But in all seriousness, thank you very much for reading/following/favoriting! I really appreciate it. :)**

**Special thanks to my reviewers: **

**abbynormal315: I'm sorry you have stressful things happening right now! I hope that you have some more peaceful days ahead. Thank you so much for reading the last chapter, I'm glad you enjoyed it!**

**Guest: There's more where that came from, lol! I hope you liked this chapter as well and whatever odds and ends come next! :)**

**You guys are amazing! See you soon!**


	3. Hormones

The esteemed noble ladies of Asgard gathered on a regular basis in order to catch up on gossip and create more rumors. Typically, they had their meetings when their esteemed noble husbands were in council with the Allfather. This way the ladies who didn't live in the palace had an excuse to come visit their friends and their gatherings had to end when their husbands finished with Odin and they wouldn't have to come up with their own excuses to leave.

The meetings had been led by Queen Frigga during her life and the vicious energy of chatting ladies was used to work on charity projects or to discuss pressing issues that the queen could bring to her husband for the betterment of Asgard. Now that Frigga was dead and Lady Fulla was imprisoned on Midgard for treason, their group had no leader and they were not particularly productive.

Princess Maisy Sloane Sichore, Champion of Taka af Brúðr, Widow of the Trickster, and Unofficial Midgardian Ambassador, absolutely hated any meeting with the Asgardian noble ladies. They'd always been anxiety producing, full of petty remarks, and somewhat boring, but it was made ten times worse when she didn't have any friends among the group. Linn was not technically a lady of the court so she could not attend even when she was home from school, Sif was off adventuring at the moment, and Skadi had recently adopted a child and was understandably busy with the five year old she and her husband had taken in. This left only the nastiest, rudest, snidest ladies and Maisy felt rather like a defenseless rabbit in a nest full of fierce eagles.

Despite this, she went to the meetings. Part of her wanted to go because she thought she might, eventually, be able to make friends with at least a few of the ladies of the court and then she would have someone to talk to while Linn attended high school on earth. Mostly, however, she went to the meetings because Loki asked her to so that she could gather information. As it turned out, the noblemen told their wives things in confidence and their wives spilled every bean to their friends. From attending the meetings Maisy could gage how pleased or displeased the noble families were with "Odin". Loki greatly appreciated her attending the meetings and spying on the ladies for him, but Maisy still hated going. Especially now that she was near the end of her second trimester.

"Oh Princess, how are you?" Lady Astrid smiled, sickly sweet, "You do look _well_."

"Um, thanks. I am doing okay. How are you?" Maisy smiled back as nicely as she was able, sitting down with some difficulty. She was glad the chair she'd chosen had arm rests as it made it a bit easier to lower herself and her large belly.

"I am doing quite well, thank you! We have had such lovely weather lately, don't you think?" Lady Astrid gasped, "Oh, how insensitive of me! I forget that you cannot have enjoyed the weather in your present… condition."

"What?" Maisy furrowed her brow, "No, I can go outside. I went for a walk around the main courtyard yesterday. It was really nice outside, but the weather in Asgard is usually pretty fantastic."

"Indeed," Astrid would not stop staring at Maisy's stomach.

"Remind us, Princess, how long does a Midgardian's pregnancy last? You seem so large and it seems like you have not been pregnant very long at all!" Lady Var exclaimed.

"Nine months. I've been pregnant for about twenty-five weeks," Maisy rubbed her arms and tried to laugh, "I probably seem really big because I'm having twins."

"Oh that's right," Var nodded, "Twice the trouble, hmm?"

"Ha, yeah. Yep, twice the diapers too, haha."

"Disgusting," Lady Erna wrinkled her nose, "That is what nannies are for. My sweet Dagny has had a nanny since she was four _hours_ old and I am quite happy that way."

Maisy didn't comment, silently flabbergasted at the idea of carrying around a person (or two) in your belly for nine months and then laboring for hours to bring them into the world and then sending them off to be with a nanny right away. She couldn't imagine giving up her babies so soon after meeting them. When her twins were born she planned to hang onto them for as long as she was able.

"Is that pink girl—the Krylorian—going to be your nanny? If not, I have several girls who I would highly recommend," Var commented, "I've been collecting a list of possible nannies since I got married. I'll have only the best whenever I have a baby."

"We're not going to have a nanny."

"We?"

"Err, _I_ am not having a nanny. It isn't like I have a full time job that I need to work on right now. That's part of why I'm staying in Asgard, so I'll have time to take care of the babies."

"No nanny?" Astrid's eyebrows flew high on her forehead and all of the ladies began muttering, shocked at the very idea.

"That will age you quickly," Erna warned, "Idunn's apples or not."

"That's just how we do things on earth," Maisy shrugged, "At least, most people."

"How… quaint."

"Imagine all of the gray hairs!"

"I could never take that much time out of my day. When would I have time for myself?" Astrid laughed.

"Not to be rude or pry, but… if you didn't feel like you had time for children then why did you have a kid in the first place?" Maisy instantly regretted asking the question because everyone erupted with laughter as if this was the silliest question that could be asked.

"Oh Norns, are you seriously wondering?" Astrid asked when they'd quieted a bit.

"I'm sorry, that was impolite of me to ask. You don't need to answer."

"I had a baby because that is what you _do_. I married. The logical next step is children."

"I guess…"

"Besides, without a child, how will my husband's line continue? Who will inherit his land and title?"

"Speaking of husbands, it is such a shame about yours, Princess," Var mentioned slyly, "I'm sure you miss him a great deal during this time."

"Y-yes," Maisy answered somewhat suspiciously. Was Var hinting that she knew Loki was still alive? Was she just trying to offer her condolences in her own snooty way? Whatever she wanted, Maisy was used to pretending that her husband was dead. Despite her poor acting skills, it was easy for her to fake great sadness since she'd thought he was dead for a time as well. All she had to do was remember how she felt seeing his dead body laid out and her hands started to shake.

"Especially since, with his magic, you could hide how enormous you've gotten!" Var laughed and Maisy was both relieved and annoyed. Relieved that Var probably didn't realize that Loki was alive, and annoyed that she thought she could joke about his death. And also that she'd called her fat.

"Ha. Yeah," Maisy clasped her hands over her belly and turned her head away from the other women. She smoothed the fabric of her dress and tried to imagine how wonderful it would be when her babies were born instead of lingering on what these ladies said.

When the meeting ended, after about five more jabs at Maisy's weight and how difficult it was to lose the weight after giving birth, the princess did her best not to run back to her room and hide from the world. Instead, she waited until every lord had claimed his lady and then she found her way to the council chamber to peak in and see what "Odin" was up to.

He was busy discussing something with Idunn, who was one of the four women who had been let into the Allfather's council. The other three were Freya, Eir (the head healer of the palace) and Gefion (who handled many of Asgard's agricultural issues). Maisy thought they were all pretty badass ladies and she wished she knew them better. At the moment it appeared that Loki as Odin was very busy talking to Idunn, so Maisy left and found her way back to her chambers.

In her room she was startled by her own appearance in the mirror. She bit her lip and cringed at seeing that not only had her belly grown, but the rest of her had as well. Her face was rounder and her ankles appeared mammoth to her. The mean comments of the ladies of Asgard wound their way into Maisy's brain and she had to fight off tears. She looked away from the mirror and went to her wardrobe instead. That only made matters worse as she realized that none of her favorite clothes fit her and probably would not fit for quite some time. At this realization she let the tears fall and they wouldn't stop.

* * *

Loki had noticed Maisy enter the council chamber after his meeting and then leave shortly after. He tried to finish his discussion with Idunn quickly in order to see what his wife wished to discuss, but Idunn could be a chatterbox when she wanted to. She wouldn't stop talking about some idea she had about using her apples to create a cider that would heal fatal wounds and illnesses without expanding a mortal's life thousands of years. She wanted to create the cider to send it to Midgardian hospitals. Loki had a hard time focusing on this idea and thinking of logical responses so he mostly just nodded his head to whatever she said and muttered things like "we will discuss it at the next council meeting" and "I can see you have many thoughts on this" while trying to corral her toward the door so he could leave.

When Idunn finally left him he breathed a sigh of relief and shifted into the form of a guard so that he could walk through the halls of Asgard without being bombarded by questions and bows. Honestly, being king was exhausting. He wouldn't give it up for anything and he was still certain he was doing a better job than both his father and his brother, but he often wished that he could be himself so that he could have Maisy as his queen and they could share in the burden of ruling together. Like Odin and Frigga had. And so he didn't have to disguise himself every minute of the day.

When he made it to his chambers he found the guard, Ralph, standing on duty outside the door, which meant Maisy must be home. Because of the palace guards constantly nearby and the sensitive nature of many of the conversations held in Loki's room, he'd had to create a spell that sound proofed the walls and doors whenever he and Maisy were both home. He'd wanted to give his wife privacy and leave the soundproofing up always, but then he realized that if she was attacked while he wasn't home then the guards wouldn't actually be able to do their jobs.

He knocked at their door, ignoring Ralph's curious look, but Maisy did not answer. Loki frowned and turned to Ralph.

"Is the princess home?"

"Yeah… but who are you? I feel like I've seen you around before, but I don't know your name."

"I'm… Haddock," Loki recalled that Linn had come up with a name for his guard disguise when they'd had to introduce him to Bjorn. "Third cousin of Folkner."

"Oh yeah? I know Folkner pretty well. He's one of my best mates. Is he going to back up this story?" Ralph narrowed his eyes.

"Of course he will, because it's true," Loki made a mental note to threaten the guard Folkner into backing up his story. "I'm here to see the princess."

"There's something fishy about you, Haddock," Ralph stepped between Loki and his own door, "Every time I see you it seems like you are trying to talk to Her Highness."

"Because I usually am," Loki crossed his arms, "The Allfather has assigned me to do wellness checks on her periodically."

"This is my shift to be her personal guard. Why can't I do wellness checks?"

"Just move aside, Ralph. I could report you."

"I am doing my job, it's you who shouldn't be here."

Loki was tempted to make an illusion of Odin come ambling down the hall and order Ralph out of the way, but that wouldn't make any sense. And he couldn't just make Odin pop up whenever he wanted something, people would get suspicious of his guard alias. Before he could think of a reason Ralph should let him in, the young guard was speaking again.

"Listen… Haddock, if this is because you have some kind of crush on Her Highness you'd better drop it now."

"What?"

"Guards and royalty don't mix. And I know you could argue that she's not technically royalty because the prince died, but she's still part of the royal family, okay? And apart from that, she's in mourning still and you should really give her space. It's totally unprofessional of you to make such advances toward a grieving widow, okay?"

Loki was both pleased that his wife was being so respected by this guard and irritated that this pesky guard was doing his job so well. He scowled, but then he had an idea. He dropped the disguise of Haddock the guard and shifted into Ambassador Berilo instead. Ralph blinked in surprise and quickly hid a look of disgust at coming face to face with a Dark Elf.

"Ambassador?"

"You were right. I am here in the interest of romance. Well, at least, I hope it will develop into a romance someday," he smiled, "I am quite intrigued by the princess and we are becoming good friends—bonding over the fact that neither of us is from Asgard."

"Uh…"

"I swear it is nothing inappropriate. I was only in disguise because we both worry that people will dislike her if they know that she is friends with a Dark Elf."

"Oh, um," Ralph looked thoughtful and then shook his head, "I suppose it isn't really my place to meddle with that. However, I don't think now is a good time for you to visit her."

"Why not?"

"She's been crying since she got back from her meeting with the ladies."

"_What?!_"

"Yeah, I can tell because she sobbed for a little while and then she went really quiet, which means that she is trying hard not to cry. But every once in a while I'll hear a loud sniffle and a bit of a sob again."

"And you didn't check to see if she was okay?!"

"Well… I figured she probably wants to be left alone."

"Idiot," Loki pushed past him and wrenched open the door. A thousand scattered thoughts of disaster flitted through his mind. He pictured Maisy wounded. Maisy sick. Maisy having terrible news. Perhaps the babies… no. He needed to figure out what was actually wrong before he jumped to conclusions. Scanning the room, he found her sitting on the sofa with a blanket wrapped around her so tightly that he couldn't see her face. She was a miserable bundle that shook every few seconds with quiet crying. When he burst into the room she peeked out of the blanket at him and saw his disguise and Ralph watching through the door frame.

"Err, Ambassador Berilo," she mopped her face with her blanket and moved to stand up.

"Are you alright? Please don't bother getting up for me."

"I'm… fine. Uh. Can I help you with something?"

"I just wanted to chat with you… like we have been?" He tried to convey the fact that he needed her to go along with his lie. She didn't always catch on to his tricks, but this time she only nodded and turned to Ralph.

"He checks out. Can you close the door please?"

"Shout if you need me, Highness!" Ralph clapped his fist to his chest and closed the door. As soon as it closed Loki shot a spell to lock it and prevent intrusions and then he dropped his disguise.

"Hi," Maisy sniffled, "How was your meeting?"

"Why are you crying? What happened? Are the babies…?"

"Yes. The babies are fine. I'm fine. I'm just," she wiped her face again and waved her hand, "Hormonal."

"And… might I ask what set off the tears? Or did you just spontaneously start crying for no reason at all?"

"That does happen sometimes," she laughed lightly, "But today… well, it's not really important. You should probably go back to being king and all of that stuff. I'll be fine."

"Maisy," Loki moved closer and sat down next to her on the sofa, "Tell me."

"It's stupid. You'll think I'm overreacting. Because I am. I shouldn't be this upset."

"That doesn't change the fact that you _are_ upset. Maybe you are overreacting, but that doesn't mean your emotions mean anything less. Perhaps talking about it will help."

"You have better things to do than this."

"Nothing is more important to me in this moment than you and your hormonal emotions. Now, as the Midgardians say, _spill_."

Maisy bit her lip and wrapped the blanket tighter around herself. She eventually sighed and leaned her head against the sofa arm. Loki scooched closer to her, surprised that she didn't lean against him as she normally did. Perhaps _he_ had done something to upset her.

"It's just, I'm so," her eyes filled with water again and she lowered her voice to a whisper, "_Fat_."

"You… are pregnant."

"So you don't deny that I'm fat."

"Maisy. You have two bodies inside of you right now. I would be more concerned if you were thin," Loki knew he had to handle this topic delicately. A person's weight was a dangerous subject of conversation.

"You think I'm overreacting," she covered her face with the blanket and turned her body away from him, "Just go back to work. I'll be fine here. Alone and fat."

"You aren't—"

"I am fat, Loki," she pulled the blanket back enough to glare at him, "I have eyes you know."

"I was going to say you aren't alone. I'm not going anywhere until we get you feeling better, alright?"

"Nooooo," she groaned, "I'm being selfish and stupid and you need to go take care of a whole realm."

"What would you have me do then?"

"Just go. I'm ugly and fat and I don't deserve your company anyway."

"Norns, woman, stop lying to yourself," he huffed. She made him immediately regret his choice of words. If Maisy's hormonal sadness was ten times worse than her normal sadness then her hormonal anger was a hundred times worse than her normal anger.

"_Woman?!"_ She hissed, sitting up straight and glaring at him with the heat of a thousand suns. He physically flinched back and tried to smile comfortingly.

"I meant that with the utmost respect."

"Ugh!" She stood up, blanket still wrapped around her like a cloak, "You don't even care about my problems at all! You just want to make me stop crying so you can get back to work. Because that's all that's important to you! Work, work, work! Being king is the most important thing in your life!"

Loki watched her pace the room, one hand holding her blanket and the other splayed out over her round stomach. He wondered what the best course of action in this situation would be. Should he wait out her fit of anger silently? Or should he reassure her that he loved her? He felt like both options would result in her yelling at him.

"I understand though," she had tears streaming down her face and fury in her eyes, "Why would you care about someone as ugly and _huge_ as me? I'm hideous!"

"No! Darling, you are not hideous!"

"Yes I am! You're probably disgusted by me. I bet you wish you could just use magic to cover me up like Lady Var said!"

And _there_ was the root of the problem.

"What the hell does Lady Var know?" He jumped to his feet and put his hands on her shoulders, "She has never carried a child, let alone two at once!"

"But she's right, isn't she? You wish you could just hide me with a spell so you don't have to look at how fat I am!"

"That is absurd," he snapped, "The only one I want to hide with magic is Lady Var and her stupid smug face. You, my beautiful lady, are a vision! You could not look ugly in my eyes if you tried!"

"I'm fat."

"You are carrying twins!" He exclaimed, "Of course you put on weight! But that doesn't make you look any less lovely! I love every extra inch of you."

Maisy opened her mouth to say something contrary, but she must have exhausted herself because she merely tried to hug him. The further along in her pregnancy that she got, the harder hugging became, but they managed. He rested his chin on her head and ran his fingers through her hair, whispering comforting nothings. When she'd calmed down they sat back on the sofa with her curled up against his side.

"Now, tell me the name of every woman who made my gorgeous wife feel like she could possibly be less than astoundingly beautiful."

Maisy snorted. "You can stop with the exaggerated compliments. I don't need you to boost my ego with every sentence."

"But, you are resplendent! I would not dare exaggerate," he grinned and kissed her forehead. "Now tell me their names so I can make them rue the day they dared to speak an ill word against my pulchritudinous beloved."

"What does pulchritudinous mean? You said that word one other time. You and Thor went out and got drunk. Before we were married."

"Technically we've been married for as long as we've known each other."

"I mean, before we had our wedding. Right around the time of Aoiba's trial, remember?"

"Ah yes. I was very drunk. I don't remember calling you that, but I meant it. Pulchritudinous essentially means beautiful. But you know how I like my words to be terribly complicated and difficult to understand."

"Well, that night you said I wasn't as pretty as Sif, but that I was pulchritudinous," she laughed, "You were _very_ drunk."

"Clearly. Only an idiot would say you aren't as pretty as Sif," he hoped that covered his past drunken slip up. He might have believed it once, but somewhere along the line Maisy's face had become his favorite sight in all the realms. Much prettier than Sif's in his opinion. "Now, the names?"

"I shouldn't tell you. I don't want you to do something awful to them."

"I don't _just_ murder people to get revenge you know. I can think of several ways to make them miserable without even causing them pain. If you don't tell me who it was specifically I'll just have to make every noblewoman in Asgard suffer."

"Oh alright. But you have to promise that you won't hurt them."

"I promise."

"It was mostly Var, Astrid, and Erna."

"What idiotic hags."

"I feel like I should tell you not to call them hags because strong women don't tear down other women, but… they are really mean. So I'll allow it."

"Shall I call them other worse things or would you prefer I call you wonderful things instead?" He grinned at her.

"You don't need to call anybody anything. Let's just sit here and enjoy each other's company, okay?" She snuggled closer and then gasped, "Oh! Hey! Give me your hand!"

Loki eagerly did as she asked. He knew what she was about to do, but every time it happened he was delighted. As he suspected, she put his hand on her stomach and he felt a little kick through her skin. It had happened a few times before, though being able to feel the twins move was still relatively new, and just as before he couldn't help but smile.

"Ah! They are going to be feisty ones!" he declared.

"Like their dad."

"And I'm sure they will be pulchritudinous like their mother," Loki winked at her and she playfully batted his arm. Then she fell quiet for a moment and when she looked at him again she had worry written across her face.

"If the ladies are so mean to me, what do you think they'll say to our daughters?"

"They may gossip amongst themselves however much they wish, but if any of them says anything _to_ our daughters I'll start cutting out tongues."

"That sounds fair," Maisy nodded, completely serious, "And maybe throw them in the dungeon for a little while too."

"You are truly a wise princess."

* * *

Lady Var woke up the next day feeling refreshed and ready to take on the world. She had big plans for the day. She had three couples who she intended to spy on and one that she wanted to scold because they'd broken up. The Midgardians once called her the goddess of vows and she enjoyed living up to that by keeping an eye on the romantic couples of Asgard and making them feel like dirt if they ever broke their vows to each other. Rude, perhaps, but quite enjoyable.

She also had plans to meet with her friends, Asrtid and Erna. They wanted to dissect every movement the princess had made the day before and analyse every word she had said. The princess, who Var disliked, was always an interesting topic of conversation. It never became boring to judge her lack of courtly manners or her rapidly increasing weight.

Var made a vow to herself that she would never be that huge when she became pregnant. It must have been because Midgardians were less beautiful creatures by nature. Or, maybe because of the twins, but probably the first reason.

Stretching and climbing out of bed, she went to her mirror to wash her face. As soon as she caught a glimpse of herself she screamed in horror. This woke up her husband who rushed into the washroom with a sword at the ready and his hair sticking up in spikes. When he saw her he lowered the sword and stared in confusion.

"Don't just stare at me!" She shrieked, "What happened?! What did you do?!"

"My love, I've done nothing! How would I even… do that to you? I mean, I know how, but… so quickly?"

Var screamed and screamed and her husband could do nothing but scratch his head and try not to laugh. Eventually, he went to get the healers, even though Var begged him not to tell anyone about her condition. It was far too embarrassing. When the healer, a young woman with a cheerful smile, came to their chambers she had to cover her mouth to hide her laugh. Var stomped up to the young woman and jabbed her teal colored healer's apron. The healer stopped laughing and put on a pleasant expression instead.

"Hello Lady Var, my name is Gerda, what can I help you with today?"

"Clearly you aren't blind, do not test my temper, girl," Var snarled, "Fix it."

"Might I inquire what happened?"

"I don't know!" Var stomped her foot, "I just woke up like this and now I need you to fix it!"

"Hmm," Gerda set her bag down on a chair and circled Lady Var, "I would say that you are at the bad end of a joke, my lady. Or a curse. There is no other explanation for such a rapid—"

"Fine, whatever, some soon to be dead servant spiked my drink with a potion of some sort. Make it go away!"

"I would need to take a sample of blood in order to determine what sort of magic did this to you. If you would please hold out your arm," the healer took a blood drawing device from her bag and approached Var, who flinched back.

"Can't you use the Soul Forge? I should not be subjected to such archaic practices! Blood drawing! Honestly! Next you'll put a leech on me!"

"We still use blood draws for many things, my lady," Gerda glanced at the door, "But if you would like to walk through the halls all the way to the nearest Soul Forge, I suppose we could—"

"You can't bring a Soul Forge to me?"

"I'm sorry, Lady Var, but the Soul Forge is rather a difficult thing to move. It will allow for us to find you an antidote much more quickly though. Would you like to walk there with me? It is not far from here," the young healer offered, her voice full of nothing but sickeningly sweet concern. Var suddenly hated the healers. They all thought they were better than everyone else. They were so pretentious. This one was probably laughing at her under that oh-so-understanding smile. Revolting, all of them! Especially this one.

"I want this taken care of quickly," Var opened her wardrobe and pulled on a cloak, "Take me there now. And you had better not be dragging me all across Asgard either or Eir will hear of this and I'll have you fired."

"Of course, my lady," Gerda nodded. She helped Var fasten the cloak over her tightly fitted nightgown and made sure that she was covered. Then they set out for the nearest healing station. When they arrived, Var saw two other cloaked figures ahead of her in the waiting area. She got ready to tell them off and yell that their problems couldn't possibly be as urgent as hers when the two figures turned. It was Ladies Astrid and Erna, each accompanied by a healer.

"Oh, Astrid, Erna," Var laughed, trying to angle herself so that her cloak hid her better, "How funny running into you here! I do hope everything is alright with both of you."

"Oh yes!" Astrid nodded, also angling herself away from the others, "I'm just here for a check up."

"Me as well," Erna said through grit teeth.

"How funny that we all came for check ups at the same time to the same healer station," Var laughed and the others joined her, the sound harsh and false. After a moment of it, Erna frowned.

"You two were given prank potions as well, weren't you?" Erna whispered.

"Whaaat?" Var tried to play it cool, but it wasn't working.

"Oh give it up," Astrid sighed and pulled back her cloak to show them. "We know it happened to you too, Var."

"Alright fine," Var huffed, "But I wouldn't dare show you. Someone else might see."

"Who would do something like this?" Erna looked close to tears.

"And why?" Astrid agreed, "We're so well liked in the court!"

"If her husband weren't dead I would say it was our illustrious princess," Var growled, "But she doesn't know enough magic to do something so diabolical herself."

They discussed possible suspects until Astrid was called into the healing station. All three ladies entered at the same time, much to the surprise of the healer on duty. The three healers who had accompanied the ladies shrugged apologetically and explained the situation.

"So…" the healer in charge frowned, staring at the trio of enormous bellies before her, "All three of you woke up in the third trimester of pregnancy? And none of you were pregnant yesterday?"

"It's not a real pregnancy," Var said quickly, "I can't see it unless I look in the mirror. It is some sort of illusion."

"Some magician cursed us!" Astrid added.

"And when we find out who did it they will be reported to the Allfather," Erna snapped. "But we need you to fix us first so that we can find whoever it is without everyone thinking we're huge and bloated."

"Alright, one of you hop on the Soul Forge and I'll see what can be done."

Var shoved Erna forward to be examined and once the Soul Forge had shown the healers all it could the results were not good.

"It seems to be a potion," the lead healer told them, "A potent one. There is nothing I can give you to take away these illusion pregnancies. I'm afraid you'll have to wait until it clears from your system."

"How do we clear it out of our systems?" Var demanded.

"Well, I suppose you could drink a lot of water to get the majority of it out via urination, but you'll mostly just have to wait. I'd say a potion like this could affect you for a week or so."

"A _week?!_"

"Sorry, ladies. But if it makes you feel any better, you all seem to be in perfect health otherwise."

Var, Astrid, and Erna left the healing station most dissatisfied with their care. They thought they were having a bad enough day as it was and then, when they exited the healing station they were greeted with a large crowd of nobles, being led by Ambassador Berilo, who was telling them an exciting story about Svartalfheim. He paused when he saw the ladies and broke into a smile, causing all of the nobles to turn and look at them.

"Oh my! Congratulations ladies! All three of you pregnant at once! How incredible!"

"We aren't—"

"This isn't—"

"You dirty Dark Elf!" Var screeched, causing a few nobles to tut at her. Apparently Berilo was doing his job well and garnering friends in Asgard already. "Did you curse us like this?!"

"Me?" His green eyes sparkled, "I'm flattered, but I do believe all three of you are married and I would never dare to put you in such a situation."

The assembled nobles laughed uproariously.

"Oh Norns," Astrid groaned.

"If it was not you," Var growled, not quite catching onto the joke, "Then who would do such a thing to us?!"

"Now, Lady Var," Berilo shook his head, "I'm sorry you can't remember who fathered the child, but it is really no business of mine."

Var turned scarlet as she finally caught on. She was about to explode at the ambassador, but he waved at her with a smile and continued with the story he was telling and led the nobles away from her. A few of them kept glancing back with giggles. Var wanted nothing more than to strangle the Dark Elf.

"Oh… my… gosh," a quiet voice whispered. Var turned to see Princess Maisy watching her, "Var, are you guys okay?"

"Did you have something to do with this?!"

"No," Maisy shook her head, "I'm so sorry, is it a prank or…?"

"Some idiot thought it would be funny to make us look as fat as you, Your Highness," Astrid commented, "We do not find it amusing."

"I'm sure. I'm so," the princess snorted a little, but quickly covered up her amusement with a straight face, "I'm so sorry, ladies. Is there anything I can do to help you out?"

"I think you've done quite enough, thank you!" Var growled, stomping past her. Astrid and Erna followed right on her tail. Maisy watched them go and when they were out of sight she began to giggle uncontrollably. Her laughter drew one of the healers, Gerda, from the station.

"Princess, how are you today?"

"Better than ever, thank you," Maisy laughed and then cleared her throat, "Are those ladies really okay? They aren't hurt or anything, right?"

"They are perfectly fine. I do believe you have an admirer though," Gerda grinned, "Apparently, Ambassador Berilo heard that they were commenting on your weight yesterday and he sought me out. He wanted my assistance in brewing a potion to get a bit of petty revenge on them."

"Berilo did that to them?" Maisy rolled her eyes, "Why am I not surprised?"

"You know the ambassador well then?"

"Uh, he and I are becoming friends, yes," Maisy blushed, "Isn't there any way to fix them? They seemed so embarrassed!"

"The antidote is fairly easy to put together, but Berilo thought it might be fun to let the potion wear off naturally and perhaps by the end of the week they will be a bit more sympathetic to your situation," Gerda winked at Maisy, "I think that Dark Elf is quite charming."

"He certainly can be," Maisy rolled her eyes.

"Well then, shall we get you to your appointment?" Gerda asked, "I'm sure the rest of the healers are as excited as I am to see how you and the little ones are doing!"

"Get me on the Soul Forge!" Maisy followed the young woman into the healing station and proceeded with her normal pregnancy check up. Everything was fine and her attitude had much improved since the day before. And she would have been lying if she said she didn't enjoy every moment of Ladies Var, Astrid, and Erna's collective embarrassment.

**A note from the author: Sorry it has been so long, guys. Everything has been crazy lately, as I'm sure you are well aware! I hope all of you are staying safe and healthy and not going crazy in quarantine. I'm hoping to post some deleted scenes soon because I thought that would be fun. I also thought that now would be a good time to do a Q&A with the characters... if you guys are interested? Obviously, I can't do it without y'all because otherwise I won't have any Qs for the Q&A. So, if you have any questions or comments for any of the characters I have written about please leave them in the reviews! Once I collect enough I can write a fourh-wall breaking chapter, possibly taking place in the PFoD.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this silly one shot and that you are all washing your hands regularly! Thank you so much for reading!**

**Special thanks to my reviewer, who is a guest reviewer, for reviewing! (How many times can I say "review" before it stops sounding like a word? Review, review, review, review... ahem, anyway...) I'm so glad you enjoy my writing! :)**

**Until next time, which is hopefully soon! :D**


	4. Deleted Scenes 1

**A note from the author: Welcome to the first set of deleted scenes! I don't know if anyone will actually want to read this or not, but I thought it might be fun to post. If you don't like having deleted scenes then just let me know and I'll stop posting them. Today I'm going to give you two of my deleted scenes for Till Death Do You Part (the first "book"). Most of the time my deleted scenes are actually snippets that I enjoyed writing, however with most of them I couldn't figure out where to take the story after the scene ends or I changed something later in the story that made these scenes irrelevant. But they are kind of fun to look back on and I hope you enjoy them!**

* * *

**Scene 1: In this one, Loki gets frustrated because he gets confirmation that Taka af Brúðr will be taking place and he gets worried that Maisy not be ready. This was fairly on in the story and I was almost going to have it be the first time that Loki admitted that he liked Maisy, but I thought they needed to go through more angst before that could happen because I'm a horrible person. ;)**

Before he got that far he saw Thor approaching him. If he'd had his magic he would have hidden himself, not wanting to be seen fleeing the slumber party. However, he had nothing to disguise the fact that he'd been booted out of his own room. He braced himself for Thor's mocking, but it never came.

"Loki, I am glad to find you still awake," Thor said in a hushed tone, "And I am glad not to have to disturb Jane and her friends. I fear I have some news that may… upset you."

"What is it?"

"The realms have sent their replies. A date has been set for the start of Taka af Brúðr."

Loki felt his irritation drain away and he paled.

"When?"

"We have a week until the opening ceremony."

"Thank you for telling me," Loki turned around.

"Where are you going?" Thor called, but his brother made no answer.

Throwing the door open to his room, he stomped up to the bed, ignoring the groans of protest from the assembled women. Grabbing Maisy's arm, he pulled her to her feet and shoved her toward the wardrobe.

"Get dressed."

"What? Why?"

"I am through with waiting for Sif's snail pace training," Loki snapped, "I'm taking things into my own hands."

Maisy grabbed her clothes from the wardrobe and went into the bathroom quietly.

"What are you doing?" Sif asked.

"None of your business."

When Maisy came out of the bathroom Loki pulled her arm once more and led her out the door. He didn't notice the other women get up and dart after them, telling him to let go of her arm. Maisy didn't make a sound until he all but threw her into the training area.

"Where is your dagger? You expect to train without it? If you are this unprepared during Taka af Brúðr then you'll lose before the competition even begins! Do you not care at all, Maisy? If you were truly taking this seriously then you would not be throwing parties and gossiping with your friends, you would not stop training for a moment!"

"Alright! Alright!" Maisy stepped away from him, scowl on her face, "We'll train!"

"Do not do it," Sif said, "You do not have to listen to him. You worked hard today already. You are in fine shape."

Maisy took up her knife and crouched into the position that Sif taught her. She barely had a moment to react before Loki attacked. With a yelp, she dodged his jab and barely missed being shish kabobed. He attacked again, faster and she could do nothing but leap out of the way. Again and again he swung at her until Maisy tripped over her own feet and fell to the ground. He all but fell on top of her, knees on either side of her. She flinched as he buried his knife tip in the dirt half an inch from her ear. She was panting and when she dared tear her eyes away from the blade to look at him she did not see the irrational anger she'd been expecting. There was only fear.

"Oi!" Linn snapped angrily, "Get off of her!"

"I wish I had Darcy's taser," Jane muttered.

"Loki, back off or I'll fight you myself," Sif commanded cooly, "I do not think you wish to see how well you fare against me when you do not have your tricks to aide you."

Maisy swallowed nervously and scooched out from under him. She didn't know why he was so upset, but once she'd seen him storm into the room she knew she had to see where this went. Now she was starting to regret it as she picked herself up off the ground.

"What was that about?" She asked him quietly, "Did I do something to piss you off and you thought you'd take it out on me like this? Was it the slumber party? You could have just asked and I would have told them to go if you really needed me to."

"It's not that," He muttered, standing as well, "I just…"

"Guys, can you give us a little privacy?" Maisy asked her friends. The other women looked suspicious, but left. Linn took the longest, eyeing them with the most ferocious look either of them had ever seen on her face.

"Odin has forbidden me to help you," Loki said, straightening his shirt and his shoulders, "He says it shows favoritism. I don't blame him because it is true."

* * *

**Scene 2: I wish I could have figured out how to fit this scene into the actual story because I think it's a really fun concept, however, I couldn't quite figure out how to finish it or where I was going with it, so I scrapped it. The set up is that for one of the tasks in Taka af Brúðr the contestants have to take a quiz about Loki. It didn't really add much to the story besides humor, but it was fun to write.**

"Now that you have each had time alone with him, there will now be a quiz on Loki," Odin announced, "To show how much you know of him."

Maisy felt confident with this event. She'd been sharing a room with him for almost three months. The others had only known him for a week. She could win this game in her sleep and the other girls seemed to realize it too because they were all glaring at her. When she looked at Loki he gave her a thumbs up and a wink.

"Each of you shall be handed a writing implement and a pad of paper. The question shall be asked, you will write your answer, Loki will tell us the answer and then everyone will reveal what they have written," Odin smiled, "And to ensure there is no cheating, this room prevents _anyone_ from using magic."

Melantha grumbled something quietly and Loki looked peeved at this as well. No one else seemed to care. Maisy was glad of this little rule because it would mean that she would win fairly and no one would be able to doubt it.

She took her pen and pad with a smile and got ready for the questions. This would be fun. Like a game of Kahoot in high school. Who didn't like Kahoot?

"First question - and remember that you will lose points for not answering so it is better to make a wrong guess and get no points than to not guess and have points taken away," Odin grabbed a slip of paper, "How tall is Loki?"

The girls all stared intensely at Loki for a moment, trying to find an object to measure him against. Maisy tried to think of all of the times she'd stood next to him, since she knew her own height was five feet and six inches. The top of her head came up to about his mouth so she guessed he was somewhere over six feet. She wrote her answer and waited.

"Time's up. Bring in a measuring tape," Odin commanded and someone approached Loki to see how tall he was, "Ah, it appears he is four and a half Mjolnir's tall."

"Wait, that's your measuring system?!" Aoiba asked, "You measure things in how many of Thor's hammer tall they are?"

"Sometimes. Occasionally we use the metric system."

"Will our answers be counted incorrectly if they are not in Mjolnirs?" Die-An asked.

"No. We shall simply have to do conversions," Odin nodded, "Turn your papers round please."

Aoiba had written that he was the height of a Chitauri Warship's tooth, which turned out to be a little shy of the real answer. Die-An had simply written "tall". Maisy wrote six feet and two inches, which was about right. Blaze had written one hundred and eighty centimeters, which was nearly correct. Tzefira had put four Mjolnirs - half a Mjolnir short. Melantha had written that, since Loki could shape shift to some degree that his height varied.

"I'll allow that answer," Odin nodded, "And Maisy and Blaze also get points for being the closest. Next question: what is Loki's favorite color?"

Maisy was sure that they were all writing the same answer. It was quite obvious in her mind, seeing as he only ever wore one color.

"Time. Loki?"

"Forest green."

"Ronan farts!" Die-An exclaimed, "You're wearing green?"

"Yes…?"

"I thought it was red," she muttered, "Green and red are the only colors I can't tell apart."

"Oh, you're color blind?" Maisy asked.

"Yes," Die-An grumbled, crumpling her answer and throwing it over her shoulder.

"Moving on," Odin continued and then wrinkled his nose at the next question, "Who wrote these?"

"I did!" Thor piped up with a smile. He was sitting among the contestants with a pen and paper and seemed to be playing along, "So far I have gotten everything correct!"

"There have only been two questions," Loki rolled his eyes, "Why are you playing this game anyway?"

"For fun," the older prince shrugged.

"The next question is this," Odin huffed, "How many times has Loki run away from home?"

Maisy looked at the other contestants, curious to see if anyone knew the answer right off the bat. Tzefira was already writing an answer, as was Melantha, but the others didn't seem to know what to put. Thor was counting on his fingers, which gave Maisy a clue that it was more than three times.

"Time," Odin called and then turned to Loki.

"Well, let's see, there was the first time when I accidentally ripped a page out of one of Mother's books and I thought she would kill me, the second time when I tried to join the circus, the third time when Sif embarrassed me in front of the whole court with that whole _acne_ situation, the fourth time when I thought no one loved me because everyone forgot my birthday, except Mother who gave me a cake when I returned, the fifth time when everyone forgot my birthday _again_ because Mother was on a diplomatic trip, the sixth time right after I killed Laufey-"

"Does that really count as running away from home?" Thor questioned, "I feel that falls into the category of how many times you've faked your death."

"Hmm, good point. So the actual sixth time is when you broke me out of prison during the Convergence. Six times so far."

"So far?" Odin gave his younger son a weary look, "Are you planning another excursion any time soon?"

"Of course not, but one never knows when one will want to run away from home."

"Contestants, please show your answers," Odin rubbed his forehead.

Aoiba had written three, Die-An wrote four, Maisy put five, Melantha wrote "yearly", and Tzefira put "never, why would anyone want to run away from this palace?" and Thor had written "six with the possibility that he has run a seventh time and left us with an illusion".

Odin poked Loki to make sure that Thor's answer was not true. With confirmation that Loki had not vanished, Odin read the next question.

"How many times has Loki faked his death? Oh good Norns."

* * *

**Another note from the author: What'd you think? Stupid stuff that should never have seen the light of day? Good stuff that I should have worked harder to fit into the story? You tell me! **

**I hope you are all doing well and staying healthy and not going crazy from being trapped inside. If you need something to do you could always come up with questions for the Q&A I'd like to do… ;) Or at least tell me if you think a character Q&A is a good idea or not because unless y'all tell me that it's a horrible idea I'm going to keep bothering you for questions lol. Anyway… moving on.**

**Thank you so, so, so much for reading! Special thanks to the guest reviewer for your review! :D**

**Until next time, stay healthy everyone! Wash those hands or I'll sic Blaze on you!**


	5. The Big Dance

"...and den I told Efan dat just because he's Midnight's boyfriend it doesn't mean he gets to go to girls' night wif us. I mean, _you_ don't go to girls' night and you is perfectly fine wif dat. Right?"

"Right," Bjorn said quietly as they walked, enjoying the warming weather of late April. He glanced at his girlfriend and couldn't help a smile when he saw her bouncing along the sidewalk. The walk back to the apartment they lived in at the end of school was always his favorite part of the day. It made sitting through boring high school classes worth it.

"So Efan wants to host a board game at his house dis weekend so dat you guys get a chance to hang out wif us too. You wanna go?"

"Sure," he nodded and then took a deep breath, preparing to ask a question that had been on his mind all day, "Linn—"

"Efan says dat his mom's gonna make cookies and everyfing!"

"That sounds nice. Linn, can I ask you something?"

"Midnight says dat even thought Efan is a jock he's pretty sweet and—"

"Might we talk about something other than Ethan Jones for a moment?"

Linn stopped and looked at him with a pleasant smile. Bjorn almost lost his nerve upon seeing her grin. He adjusted his backpack straps and cleared his throat. He was a guard of Asgard - a warrior! - he could do this.

"Linn," he said, still holding onto his backpack straps, "Linn, there is this thing the weekend after this one and… and they call it prom."

Her eyes grew wide and he could see the excited energy building in her as it grew increasingly difficult for her to be still.

"As I am a senior in highschool, I am expected to go," he cleared his throat again, "And I was wondering if you would be my companion for the evening."

She danced in place, almost jittery as she squealed. People passing them on the sidewalk raised brows. When she stopped hopping from foot to foot she jumped at him and wrapped her arms around his neck. She planted a kiss on his cheek and he felt his face turn red.

"Are you asking me to be your date to prom?!"

"Yes."

"Sweet Andromeda! I might have one of dem heart attack fings!"

"Is… is that a yes? Or a no?"

"It's a billion one million katillion yeses!" She let go of him and spun around, her backpack hitting him in the gut. He followed her as she started skipping down the sidewalk.

"I'm so glad you are excited," he said, "It's just a silly Midgardian thing."

"I am beyond excited! We get to dance together at a proper dancey fing! Wif poofy dresses and everyfing!" She twirled again, narrowly avoiding knocking over a child on the sidewalk.

"One of the other seniors told me that I should match my tie to your dress," Bjorn commented, "I suspect that means I will be wearing Midgardian clothes to the event."

"Course ya will! You can't show up in your armor - dough you'd be the hottest dude there. Eh! You will be anyway!" She slowed her pace and held his hand, "I'll letcha know what color dress I get and den you can match it, okay?"

"Perfect."

Linn practically floated all the way back to the tower and Bjorn felt lighter on his feet as well. He was glad that his "promposal" had gone over well. The boys who were his acquaintances at the high school seemed to think that asking one's significant other to prom was meant to be a big deal. Bjorn supposed that Linn would have liked it if he made a big fuss, but he also knew that she wouldn't mind if he didn't. And he prefered this way because otherwise he might lose his nerve and then he wouldn't get to go to prom with her. Not that he expected anyone else would ask his girlfriend, but if he didn't ask her and no one else asked her then she wouldn't get to go to the event. And he knew that she would enjoy a chance to dress up and dance.

He was quite pleased that he'd worked up the courage to ask her and even more pleased that she'd said yes.

* * *

It was only three days before the prom and Linn was beginning to panic. She'd been so busy with school that she hadn't had time to pick out a dress or shoes or anything. Part of her had been putting it off because of school, but mostly, she was hesitant to make such a colossal fashion decision without her best friend present. After all, Linn had helped Maisy with her wedding dress, Maisy should be there to help Linn with her prom dress.

Not that prom and a wedding were of equal importance but… who was she kidding, they totally were! Prom sounded amazing. Music, dancing, dubious punch, seeing her friends, photo booths! All of it sounded like a good time. And Bjorn would be there, which just increased the epicness of it tenfold.

Linn really wanted the second most fashionable person she knew (after herself) to help her pick out what she was going to wear. But Maisy was in Asgard. It would be difficult to arrange and it probably wasn't worth the Bifrost energy just to send Maisy down for a fashion consultation. Even if it was for the most important event of Linn's high school career.

With no Maisy available, Linn turned to the next best thing: her friend group. She gathered them all at the apartment after school one day and sent Bjorn off to hang out with the Avengers. He liked training with them and was always in awe of the one they called Vision. (Apparently the reddish-purplish-robot-man was worthy to hold Mjolnir.) With Bjorn gone, the girls could properly plan prom details.

"What color do you want to wear?" Alexis Clary Senior asked.

"I don't know. What color should I wear?"

"Not teal. I know you love it, but you wear it all the time. Prom is the time to wow everyone. We need something different."

"It's gots tah be cheap too," Linn commented.

"We should look at the thrift store! There's one a few blocks from here that has a great selection of used prom dresses. Some of them are pretty awful, but most of them are good," Bibi said, "I got mine there! And a matching shawl so my mom doesn't freak out about my shoulders showing."

"Nice!"

"What are you wearing, Midnight? Or are you going?"

"I searched through my great-great-grandmother's belongings and uncovered a black mourning dress from the Edwardian era and a matching veil," a slight dreamy smile came to her face and the others grinned, "It is one of the most beautiful garments I have ever seen."

"You're gonna look so hot," Linn told her, "Efan's gonna be flippin out."

"He agreed to wear an all white suit. For social commentary."

None of them asked what social commentary she would be making, but they all said that it sounded like her dress would be fantastic. It was rare to see Midnight in anything skirt-like (she said that it felt too much like bowing down to the patriarchy, plus she always got skirts caught in doorways) but the school had told her that she wouldn't be allowed at prom unless she wore a dress. The girls had started a protest about this, but Midnight said that she wouldn't mind wearing a dress for one night if she could find the perfect one. If not, she'd said that she and Ethan would just go bowling instead. Thankfully, it seemed that their friend would be able to attend the prom with them. And they were passing around a petition to get the prom dress code changed for the following year, even if they couldn't do it this time.

"Well, we'd better get down to that thrift store and see what we can find!" Alexis Clary Senior declared, "Linn doesn't have a moment to lose. We might need to make alterations or something. My mom knows a good seamstress-"

"Oh pushaw," Linn snorted, grabbing her shoes as they prepared for their shopping trip, "I can alter it easy peasy. I'd have made the whole fing if fabric on dis planet weren't so expensive."

"You can sew?" Bibi asked.

"Course I can! I worked in the laundry rooms in Asgard, ya know! Madame Veru wouldn't let you anywhere near clothes if ya couldn't make a simple dress."

"I would not be allowed to do laundry in Asgard then," Bibi said.

"Me either," Alexis Clary Senior laughed, "I learned how to do a few stitches in Girl Scouts, but I could never make a dress."

"I'll show ya sometime. I made the dress for Maisy's very first ball! Course, Loki never got to see her in it very much 'cause that scumbag, Egil, locked her in a closet and smooched her face, but it was a gorgeous dress. Never made a better one, I tell you dat."

They continued to chat about making dresses and what that would mean for next year's prom as they made their way to the thrift store. When they got there Bibi immediately started singing some song about popping some tags and only having twenty dollars in one's pocket. Coincidentally, Linn only had twenty dollars in her wallet.

Maisy had given Natasha a debit card with limited access to her and Loki's banking account. Every month the assassin was allowed to give Linn twenty-five dollars to spend however she needed to. Originally, Maisy had tried to budget in another fifty dollars to pay Agent Romanoff for Linn and Bjorn's room and board, but Tony Stark had said that if Bjorn went on some of the less dangerous Avenger missions then the billionaire would take care of their necessities (he also paid Bjorn). Not being on earth to keep up with her own job, Maisy had no option but to let the generous superhero take care of Linn and Bjorn.

Earlier that month, Linn had splurged on some of her favorite Terran fruit at her favorite grocery store, leaving her with twenty dollars to purchase a prom dress. From the gossip she overheard at school, prom dresses tended to run a wee bit higher than twenty dollars, but she planned on purchasing the cheapest one she could find and then altering it to fit her tastes if it was ugly.

The thrift store was an amazing place, Linn soon discovered. She was fairly certain that her monthly allowance would forever be spent in the place from that moment forward. There were so many things! Furniture, books, kitchenware, decorations, board games! Not to mention the clothes! It was a forest of gently used paradise. The racks were bowing with the weight of the old sweaters and blouses. An ocean of jeans greeted the eyes in one direction and a jungle of skirts in the other. And at the very front of the store there were five circular racks laden with poofy, brightly colored, heavily sequined prom dresses.

Linn dove right in and got so lost in the fabric that it took all three of her friends working together to pull her out. When she emerged she had a purple dress grasped firmly in her hands. As she pulled it into the light and saw the color more clearly she wrinkled her nose.

"Oooh!" Alexis Clary Senior said, "That color would work so well with your hair!"

"Nope," Linn shoved it back, "No purple."

"Why not? You'd look really good in it-"

"Laundresses wear lavender. I ain't a laundress anymore and I don't wanna be ever again."

"Okay, what color do you want then?"

"Let's see what else dey got!"

Thus began their search through the tulle, satin, and polyester filled racks. Every time one of the girls would find one that they thought Linn would like they'd pull it out and ask her what she thought. Many times the price turned out to be too high or it was completely the wrong size and would take too much work to alter.

"How about this one?" Bibi held out a full length mermaid style gown with oddly placed large yellow frills, "It looks like it would fit and it's in the price range… although personally I think it kinda looks like a banana."

"I'm getting banana vibes as well," Midnight nodded.

"Or, or!" Alexis Clary Senior took it and held it up to Linn, "Belle! From _Beauty and the Beast_! Yeah? Yeah? Anyone?"

"It's a banana," Linn said evenly, "But it's the only one dat works so far so I'll try it on. If we don't find anyfing in a better color den I can make it less banana-y."

"And get rid of these random tassels," Alexis Clary Senior pointed to the shoulder strap where tassels that looked like they'd previously hung on an old lampshade.

"Aw, but dat's my favorite fing about it!"

"Ugh."

She took it to the changing room and put it on. Coming out to show them, she gave a twirl and tried not to cringe visibly. The yellow was not the best color on her skin tone (though it might have looked okay with her usual pink skin, the peachy color that Loki had cast over her looked sickly when faced with so much yellow).

"It's not _so_ bad," Bibi commented encouragingly, "It looks really nice on your figure."

"I hate it," Midnight declared, "And I think you do too. Let's find something else."

"Don't hafta tell me twice!" Linn quickly went back into the changing room and put her regular clothes on so they could look at more dresses.

It took them an hour to go through the racks in the thrift store, finding nothing else. When they'd exhausted the selection of prom dresses, Bibi suggested they try the regular dress selection. Occasionally more formal attire hid among the clubbing and sun dresses. They completely tore that section apart and found one that might work.

"It's not bad," Linn said, coming out of the fitting room and pulling at the hemline, "Kinda short, but we can get somefing frilly and I can add it on the bottom."

"I like the color," Midnight said, referring to the rich red wine shade.

"And those arm things are cool," Alexis Clary Senior pointed to the pseudo sleeves that slipped on where straps would go and trailed airy fabric to the wrists where it tied on like bracelets.

"I can totally bling it up," Linn sighed and gave a little twirl, "It's not what I pictured, but it'll work. I can make it awesome."

"Bjorn will like it," Alexis Clary Senior teased, "Especially if you leave the skirt length wear it is…"

"Lexi!" Bibi giggled, "How scandalous!"

"Sweet Andromeda," Linn covered her face and went back into the fitting room, "Let's just be glad Loki ain't here or else I prolly wouldn't even be allowed tah go."

She purchased the red dress and some black chiffon-like fabric she found in the crafts section, planning on adding some length to the skirt. Bjorn would probably have blushed and looked everywhere except at her legs if she wore something so short. And she didn't want to make him uncomfortable at an event that was supposed to be fun. Even if he would have never said anything about it and would have been a perfect gentleman just like he always was.

When the girls arrived back at the apartment they were greeted by Natasha Romanoff running out the door and yanking them back into the elevator. There was a soft _boom_ that shook the building slightly.

"Oh. That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," the super spy sighed, smiling at the girls, "I'm glad it didn't blow up the whole building."

"What da heck was it?!" Linn exclaimed as they got out of the elevator. Green smoke was billowing out of their apartment.

"Loki left a booby trap in his sock drawer," Natasha shook her head, "I was going to clear it out to make room for… uh… a thing, but as soon as I opened it a little illusion of him popped out of the drawer and warned me to get out of the building."

"Oh geez," Bibi pinched her nose, "I think it was a stink bomb!"

"Guh!" Linn plugged her nose too, "Yep! I fink you're right."

"Ugh," Natasha closed the door to the apartment and they stayed outside, "I'll call Tony and see if he can get a cleaning team down here. In the meantime we're going to have to stay at a hotel or the Tower. Bjorn's still at the base so he can just spend the night there. Vision never uses his bed anyway."

"I can't spend the night at a hotel!" Linn exclaimed, coughing when she caught another whiff of the stench.

"Why not?"

"I gotta work on my dress! Maisy's sewer machine fing is in there!"

"And all of her fun fabrics and accents!" Bibi said wistfully. Maisy had given them a tour of her work space one time and the girls had oohed and awed over every button and bauble.

"Well, I wasn't gonna dare touch dat stuff anyway. Maisy'd kill me. But wifout the sewer machine how else am I supposed to sew my dress together?"

"Sorry," Natasha shrugged, "I'm not letting you in there. Knowing Loki, it could be poisonous. We should probably evacuate the whole building just in case. You can't go back in for a sewing machine."

"But-"

"Linn, my mom has a sewing machine," Alexis Clary Senior said, "She always wanted to sew something, but she's never had the time. Our house keeper uses it every once in a while, but otherwise it's practically brand new."

"Really?"

"Hey! There you go!" Natasha was only half paying attention at this point, she was mostly focused on texting Tony, "Sleepover at the Clary house. It'll be great."

"My pajamies are in the apartment…"

"You can borrow some of mine!" Bibi said, "We're about the same size!"

"I will bring the snacks," Midnight added solemnly, "Meet you at the Clary house in an hour." She left.

"Let's swing by Bibi's place and then head to my house," Alexis Clary Senior said, leading the other teenage girls to the stairway of the building (since Midnight had taken the elevator), "Text me when this place is all cleaned up, Ms. Black Widow, ma'am!"

"Yep, don't eat too much junk food, okay? And don't stay up too late. You guys have school tomorrow, right?"

"Right. We'll behave," Alexis Clary Senior promised. They waved and set off to alter Linn's prom dress.

* * *

"Oh! You girls are so cute," Dr. Amelia Clary gushed. Linn had only met Alexis Clary Senior's mom once before, but she always admired the woman. She was smart, successful, and clearly where her daughter got her good looks from. Plus, she declared that she was making cookies as soon as Alexis Clary Senior asked if her friends could stay the night. The cookies came from a freezer package, but they were still delicious.

"Mom," Alexis Clary Senior groaned, "We aren't _cute_."

"Yes you are, Alexis," Dr. Amelia Clary pinched her daughter's cheek and then peeked over Linn's shoulder as she figured out the sewing machine, "Linnea, where did you learn to sew? You're doing a beautiful job!"

"I dunno, I kinda learned as a kid. It's easy to get work if ya can sew good. Den Maisy taught me how to use one of dese sewer machines. Not as quick as a seamer, but it ain't bad!"

"Maisy?"

"Oh uh. Me mom," Linn winced, forgetting that Dr. Amelia Clary did not know that Linn was actually from space, "Her name's Mary, but we calls her Maisy sometimes. And uh… yeah, sometimes I call her dat because I was adopted when I was older so… yeah."

"And she and your father are both designers, correct?"

"Yep!" Linn tried not to giggle at the idea of Loki sitting down like Maisy did with a sketchbook and colored pencils, a measuring tape flung wildly over the shoulder and scissors haphazardly stuck down the front of the shirt.

"How fascinating! How did they come to know Anthony Stark?"

"Dunno… uh, that was before I was adopted."

"Well, they did well teaching you how to use a sewing machine, dear! That dress is looking lovely, don't you think girls?"

"It's beautiful! I think it's going to look really cool when you're done!"

"I agree, Habiba," Dr. Amelia Clary nodded, "Are you going to prom as well?"

"Yeah! A junior invited me to go with him. He's my lab partner and his mom forced him to ask someone out so he chose me."

"Oh."

"It's okay, I didn't really want to go with anyone in a romantic sort of way anyway," Bibi dismissed.

"And you, Jessica?"

It took everyone a moment to realize she was talking to Midnight.

"Yes. My dear boyfriend, Ethan, has asked me to join him. He is also in his third year of highschool," Midnight replied stoically. But her eyes glimmered just a bit, like they usually did whenever she talked about Ethan Jones.

"How fun! Well, I'll leave you girls to it. Don't stay up too late!"

"We won't!" Linn chirped, "We'll hit the sack as soon as I finish hemming dis fing!"

"You're almost done? It's not that late..." Dr. Amelia Clary said, her smile growing. Alexis Clary Senior groaned.

"Mom, no one wants to see your-"

"Would you girls like to see my prom photos? I got the album down yesterday to show to Alexis and I haven't put it back on the shelf yet!"

"Oooh!" Linn and Bibi chimed excitedly, Linn stopping her sewing for a moment.

"I think that could be a fun experience," Midnight said.

"Not again!"

"Alexis dear, your friends said they want to see," Dr. Amelia Clary got up and went to the family room outside of the craft room. She came back with an album, the cover made of shiny silver cardboard. On the front it said: "Amelia Clary, My Prom Experience 1988".

"Hold on," Midnight pulled out her phone and within seconds of tapping at the screen they were listening to a playlist of Michael Jackson music. Dr. Amelia Clary gave a whoop and they all circled up on the floor around her prom album as "Smooth Criminal" began. Linn didn't know who Annie was, but evidently Michael was very concerned about her.

"Ah! This came out after my senior prom, but we did listen some of Michael's music," Dr. Amelia Clary grinned and opened the album. Their noses immediately filled with the burning smell of old hairspray.

The first picture in the book was of the outside of the very high school that Linn and her friends attended, though it looked slightly smaller and dirtier. The next few pages held pictures of a much younger Dr. Amelia Clary and a group of girls as they decorated the gym with streamers and balloons. They all had enormous hair, bright sweatshirts, and high waisted jeans. One of the girls was even wearing a puffy neon windbreaker.

"You were on the prom planning committee?" Bibi asked.

"Yes! My friend, Nancy, and I had a big falling out about what the theme of prom should be, but I won with the Carnival theme idea. I mean, honestly, who wants to do an Under the Sea theme?"

"So overdone," Bibi agreed.

"What theme did your committee decide on? I know Alexis told me, but I can't recall."

"Outer Space!" Linn smirked, "We got glow in the dark stars dat we is gonna plaster all over the gym! It'll be great!"

"How fun!"

They turned the pages of the album, seeing more pictures of the gym and the decorations and of the committee having fun putting everything together. Then there were endless pictures of the same girls working on their hair and makeup. The volume of their curls was impressive and Linn almost wished her hair was longer so that she could make it look like that.

"You guys ever seen _Labyrinth_ with David Bowie?" Bibi giggled, "That girl looks exactly like the goblin king."

"Ha!" Dr. Amelia Clary laughed, "That's Nancy. She did go a bit heavy on the makeup that year. And her hair… what was she thinking? Then again, what were any of us thinking?"

"I love it!" Linn exclaimed, "It's so poofy! I wish I could do me own hair dat way!"

"No!" Alexis Clary Senior giggled, "You'd look like a poodle!"

"So?"

"Just no!"

Dr. Amelia Clary turned the page and Linn couldn't help an audible gasp. The picture featured all of the girls in their dresses, posing dramatically together. On the opposite page there was a picture of them with their dates (three of whom were wearing baby blue tuxedos). When they turned the page again there was a picture of Dr. Amelia Clary alone in her blue dress. The sleeves were almost as big as her head and the skirt had three layers of puff. The finishing touch was a huge bow at the hip. All of it was in the exact same shade of royal blue.

"It's so beautiful!" Linn reverently touched the picture.

"Really?!" Bibi and Alexis Clary Senior stared at her but Midnight merely nodded.

"It does have a nostalgic elegance to it."

"Do you really like it that much?" Dr. Amelia Clary asked.

"If I owned that dress I don't fink I'd ever take it off!"

"You've got to be kidding me," Alexis Clary Senior groaned, "It's so… monochrome! And, no offence mom, but the shape of it isn't exactly pretty."

"I love the color! And the sleeves! And the skirt! And all of it!" Linn sighed longingly, "Dr. Amelia Clary, can I take a picture of dis picture so I can remember it always and forever?"

"You can just call me Dr. Clary, or Amelia, dear. And I can do you one better than just a picture!" She stood up and ran out of the room. Her daughter jumped up and followed her.

"No Mom! No, no, no! Ugh! Why are you so embarrassing?!"

Fifteen minutes later they returned with the doctor holding a large plastic garment bag. She plopped it over a chair and grinned excitedly. Alexis Clary Senior facepalmed and looked like she wanted to disappear.

"How would you like to try it on, Linnea?"

Linn blanked out for a second, imagining twirling around in the dress from the picture.

"Linn?" Bibi poked her.

"She's gone into shock," Midnight commented.

"Oh great. You broke my friend, Mom."

"Huh?" Linn blinked, "Sorry bout dat. I fought I heard you say somefing crazy."

"Do you want to try on my dress, dear?"

"Sweet Andromeda!" Linn covered her mouth, "You _did_ say dat?! I'm gonna die of happiness!"

"Well, come on over here and put it on! It might be a little musty, but-"

"Dats okay!" Linn got up and carefully removed the dress from the bag. It's color was even more brilliant in person and the fabric just as plasticky as she imagined. She carried it like someone might carry an ancient artifact or a baby and took it over to the bathroom. When she emerged, she couldn't stop beaming at Dr. Amelia Clary. Twirling around, she giggled excitedly.

"Dis is the most beautiful dress I've ever worn in me life!"

"It looks like it fits you almost perfectly!"

"Cept the boob area," Linn mentioned, "But I ain't too big in dat area, so dat's to be expected. Err, sorry, dat's not the kind of fings you's supposed to talk about in polite company."

"I know you already have a dress, but," Dr. Amelia Clary gestured to the sewing machine, "If you think you can take in the bust to fit you then you are more than welcome to have this dress."

"You mean I can borrow it from prom?!" Linn squealed, bouncing lightly on her feet.

"You can keep it forever, dear!" The doctor laughed, "It's not doing me any good collecting dust in my guest bedroom closet and Alexis is never going to wear it."

"Forever?" Linn gulped for air and then ran to Dr. Amelia Clary, nearly crushing her in a bear hug. "Fank you, fank you, fank you!"

"Don't feel like you have to, your red dress is lovely as well and I wouldn't want to make you feel obligated…"

"Dat red dress is hideous compared to dis beauty!"

"I wouldn't say _that_," Alexis Clary Senior rolled her eyes, "But if you are really so infatuated with that old thing you can wear the red one to homecoming next year."

"Or I could wear dis blue one to every single formal event for the rest of me life!"

"Well, Linnea, should you ever choose to marry, give me a call. I have a wedding dress I think you might like," Dr. Amelia Clary chuckled, "I had been considering burning it since Alexis' father and I are no longer together and it isn't exactly in style anymore."

"No!" Linn gasped, "I haven't seen it, but I fink you must have had the best fashion sense out of everyone in all of the 1980s!"

"Oh, I got married in ninety-six, but the sleeves are still massive."

Linn got changed again and immediately started to alter the blue dress. She was reluctant to cut into it or rip the seams, but Dr. Amelia Clary kept assuring her that it would be fine. The young seamstress had never been more careful with a garment (well, she'd been pretty careful when helping Maisy sew her wedding dress, but with this prom dress she tried not to even breathe incorrectly while working on it).

She was so wary of making a mistake that she broke her promise to go to bed on time and stayed up way past the three other girls. She finished her work at two in the morning and then promptly fell asleep, leaning her forehead on the sewing machine.

* * *

With the apartment still filled with the stench of a thousand dying skunks, Natasha, Linn, and Bjorn had all been staying at Avengers Tower. They would have stayed at the compound with the other superheroes, but it was a bit too far away from the high school for that to work. Even though Tony offered them a jet to get to school in every morning.

However, when the day of prom rolled around, all of the Avengers were at the tower, working on a project. Even Tony was there, though he'd said that he would be trying to stay in Malibu with Pepper lately. Thor had taken a break from his intergalactic questing to help as well. The project was top secret and Linn and Bjorn had no clue what it was about, but Linn was glad that all of the heroes were around because she had an emergency.

"You guys," Linn burst into the lab where the six original Avengers (Linn loved Wanda, Vision, Rhodey, and Sam, but they were out on a mission) were working, "I have a problem."

"What's wrong?"

"Are you okay?"

"Did Bjorn break your heart? Because I can get the Hulk to-"

"No!" Linn interrupted, "I need help getting ready for prom!"

The Avengers looked at each other warily.

"I thought you had the dress already," Steve said, "Dr. Clary let you have hers, right?"

"Right, but someone's gotta help me wif my hair and makeup!"

Five of the Avengers turned to Natasha expectantly. The redhead glared.

"Don't look at me!"

"If you're going to be the girl power on this team..." Tony gestured to Linn, "Girl power it up over here, Romanoff!"

"How should I know how to get her ready for prom?!"

"Haven't you ever been to a dance?"

"They didn't exactly have school dances in the Red Room, Tony."

"That means you don't know the Macerena and the Cha Cha Slide?"

"Oh no!" Linn exclaimed, "Bjorn and I don't know nofing about dose fings either!"

"You'll be fine, kid. Don't worry about the dances. We've got to figure out hair and makeup first."

"I could return to Asgard and bring Maisy," Thor suggested. Linn knew that was a bad idea because he'd realize something was off with Heimdall being a fugitive.

"No! We can't bother her," Linn yelped, "Might be bad for her pregnant-ness."

"True."

"Can't your friends help you?" Bruce asked, "Aren't you all going together?"

"Yeah, but we're getting ready separate because we want to surprise each other wif how fabulous we look."

"Look, Linn, we'd like to help, but what we're working on is really important," Steve began, but Clint cut him off.

"With all due respect: shut up, Cap," the archer, who Linn didn't know very well, came up to her and made a frame with his fingers, peering at her face through the frame, "Prom is extremely important too."

"You can help me?"

"Course I can, Linn. Nat, can I borrow your disguise makeup bag?"

"Sure. It's in my locker."

The other Avengers gaped at Hawkeye.

"Perfect," Clint took Linn's hand and they went and found a bag full of makeup in Natasha's gym locker. Then he took the teenager to the common floor and sat her down on one of the bar stools. "Okay. What kind of look are we going for here? What color is your dress?"

"Royal blue. I'm going for a look dat will look like it's from da 80s."

"Retro, I like it. We're going to need a lot more eyeshadow."

"Mr. Hawkeye?" Linn asked as he dug through the makeup bag, "How do you know so much about makeup?"

"Huh? Oh I…" he blinked and thought for a moment, "I don't know." He stared at the bag and then back at her face. Shrugging he continued to look for eyeshadow, "Must've picked it up on a mission or something."

* * *

Bjorn had asked for help in tying the long slender piece of fabric that Midgardians wore around their necks on formal occasions. The color of it matched Linn's dress (or so he'd been told as he hadn't been allowed to see her dress) and it looked nice with the white shirt and black suit jacket he'd borrowed from one of his new Midgardian friends who had decided not to go to prom.

Tony Stark helped him tie it while the other Avengers reminded him to behave appropriately.

"Stay with the group," Banner said, "Don't try and wander off with Linn alone."

"I've given her pepper spray and a garter sheath for a knife," Romanoff warned, "She knows how to use both well enough to defend herself so watch it."

"Were Loki here, he would probably forbid you from laying an inappropriate hand on our young friend. He would also add that if you do then that hand will be removed," Thor patted Bjron's back encouragingly, "But I'm sure it won't come to that. Right?"

"Right," Bjorn yelped when the prince squeezed his shoulder.

"Don't stay out too late," Captain Rogers added, "We'll come looking for you if you're out past one."

"Oh c'mon!" Tony grinned, ruffling Bjorn's hair, "Give 'em till at least two! How else are they going to have any fun?"

"We'll be back by one," Bjorn said when he saw the captain glare.

"Good man!" Thor laughed.

"Jarvis, drop the beat," Clint ordered, walking into the room. The song _I Wanna Dance With Somebody _by Whitney Houston started playing and the lights dimmed. Clint flicked a flashlight on and off a few dozen times as the opening of the song began. Then, when the words started he flicked the light to the doorway and Linn struck a pose.

Bjorn gaped at his girlfriend, his jaw actually falling open. Tony elbowed him and he quickly shut his mouth and shuffled up to Linn. He swallowed nervously and shoved a corsage at her. He'd made it himself out of the most interesting Midgardian flowers he could pick from the park. At the center was a daffodil and it was surrounded by olearia flowers and a few rose buds he'd found.

"Aw babe!" Linn exclaimed, "It's beautiful!"

She fastened it around her wrist and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Then she took a step back and looked him up and down, grinning.

"He looks smoking, right?" Tony chirped.

"You clean up nice!" Linn giggled, "I fink we're gonna be the best looking coupla aliens dere!"

"You look fantastic, Linn," Bjorn smiled at her, "A vision of loveliness!"

"Oh stop," she blushed and pressed her hands to her smile and swayed happily, "You don't fink I look kinda weird?"

She was wearing the dress Dr. Amelia Clary had given her and matching flat shoes. She'd altered it so it fit her perfectly. Hawkeye evidently knew what he was doing for makeup because she had loads of green and light blue eyeshadow on that glittered in the light of the archer's flashlight. He'd helped her to do her hair as well and it was slicked to one side. The part that wasn't slicked over was curled and crimped to maximum volume. As a final touch, she wore light blue feathers as earrings.

"I… I don't believe I have ever seen anyone more beautiful. Weird or not," he replied earnestly. He took her hand and grinned at her, "And I could not be more excited to go to prom with you."

"Awwww!" Tony exclaimed, pulling out his phone and snapping a picture of the couple, "He's such a smooth talker!"

The billionaire made them pose for a few dozen more pictures, telling them that they had to so that he could show them to Maisy when she next visited earth. Then he made them take one with all of the Avengers. And one with silly faces. And another twenty pictures before Jarvis announced that Alexis Clary Senior, Bibi, and Midnight, plus their dates, were out front.

"Have fun!"

"But not too much fun."

"Steve! It's prom! Let them have as much fun as they want!"

"I'm just saying-"

"Bye!" Linn called as she hurriedly pushed Bjorn into the elevator. Inside the elevator, Jarvis not-so-subtly lowered the lights, pointed the security camera away from the teenagers, and played some gentle romantic music. Linn and Bjorn glanced at each other and then awkwardly avoided eye contact for the rest of the ride down to the ground floor.

* * *

"Oh my gosh! You look fantastic!" Bibi squealed as Linn and Bjorn climbed into the van they'd all chipped in on. They had wanted to rent a limo for the big night, but the rental place didn't have any left by the time the group contacted them. Alexis Clary Senior said they should get more people in their group and go with a party bus instead, but all of their other school friends already had transportation. So they had a large, slightly suspicious looking van instead.

"You guys look fantastic too!" Linn squealed right back, buckling her seatbelt.

"Bjorn, man, looking good!" Ethan high-fived Bjorn. The guard was still new to high-fives, but he understood the gesture of comradery and smiled. The other two boys in the vehicle were Bibi's lab partner (who she introduced as Ben) and Alexis Clary Senior's date (the "it boy" of their highschool, Carl, who'd asked Alexis Clary Senior because most people seemed to think she was the "it girl"). All of the guys sat in the back so that the girls wouldn't have to wrinkle their dresses climbing over seats. Alexis Clary Senior put the van in "drive" and they moved out.

They stopped at a park to take group pictures first. Linn was already planning on how to arrange the photographs in an album. Though, she'd have to find an album first. And figure out how to print pictures.

Alexis Clary Senior's dress was orchid colored with a shimmery gold sash tied in a bow at the waist. Her dress was column shaped with golden straps and a slight V to the neckline. She wore a dainty gold necklace and a golden hair piece in her updo to tie everything together. Carl couldn't stop gaping at his date and Linn didn't blame him.

Bibi wore an ice blue A-line dress with lace decorating every inch of it. She covered the bare shoulders with a sheer royal blue wrap (which almost matched the color of her bob haircut). A silver necklace graced her neck. She kept twirling happily, enjoying the way her skirt swished.

Then there was Midnight, who, as she promised, wore a black gown that was over a century out of style. It looked like it belonged at an 1890's funeral. The long, thin skirt was a deep black and the top matched. The neckline was accented by a pearl brooch, which was the only jewelry that Midnight wore. Her black hair was worn long and loose. She told Linn that she had wanted to wear the matching mourning veil, but her parents had forced her to take it off. They didn't always tolerate her style choices. Having met Mr. Carboni, a fairly strict man of Italian descent, Linn was surprised Midnight had convinced her parents to let her wear the black dress to prom.

Once all of their pictures were taken, they made their way to the school gym and had more pictures taken at the photo booth there. Then they _finally_ got to the dance floor. Linn could hardly contain her excitement.

"Look at it all, Bjorn!" She exclaimed, pointing at various decorations, "We tried five times to get dat banner to stay in place until Midnight just nailed it into the wall. I hope we don't get in trouble for dat one. And look! I made dose planet's dat are hanging from the basketball hoops! I made 'em out of dodgeballs and covered 'em in shiny paper and fabric."

"That one looks like Krylor!" Bjorn grinned pointing at a purple "planet".

"Yeah! I wanted to make Asgard too, but I didn't have time. Oh! Did you see the glow in the dark stars?!"

Bjorn happily followed his girlfriend from one corner of the gym to the next, admiring all of the decorations. He laughed with every story she told about the troubles each piece had given her and the rest of the prom planning committee. And once they'd seen every glittering star and planet he finally pulled her onto the dance floor.

She laughed in surprise when he led her into the upbeat dance, but quickly got over her surprise and began to boogie with him. Their dance moves were a little out there, but none of the other prom attendees noticed. They were all too busy dancing poorly themselves.

After an hour of crazy moves and visiting the snack table, the DJ put on a slow song. Linn recognized it from one of Maisy's playlists. It was by some boy band who could only travel in a single direction or something and the song was called "Story of My Life". It was one of her favorite songs that Maisy listened to (even if Loki rolled his eyes every time it came on, calling it "particularly obnoxious Midgardian drivel") and she couldn't help a light gasp when it's opening notes played.

Bjorn, ever observant, gently took her hand and tilted his head to the dance floor.

"May I have this dance?"

"You better believe you can have dis dance!" Linn breathed, squeezing his hand and letting him pull her to the middle of the dance floor. He placed his free hand on her waist, never letting it drop lower than was proper, and she put her hand on his shoulder. They couldn't help smiling at each other and then quickly looking down at their feet to make sure they didn't trip.

Though they spent most of the song that way, staring at their toes and counting out the steps of a simple waltz, when the song was coming to an end they suddenly stopped and blushed as they made eye contact. The song closed and Linn did her best to flutter her eyelashes like she'd seen in the movies she'd watched.

"Err," Bjorn still hadn't moved his hand from her waist, "May I… may I kiss you?"

"I fink dat would be a real good idea," Linn whispered.

"You won't tell Captain Rogers?"

"Do I look like I want to get scolded?"

"No," Bjorn laughed and finally his hands moved to her face and they brought their lips together. Around them, other high schoolers cheered, some of them hooting crudely, others encouraging sweetly. When the young couple pulled apart, a different song came on and everyone turned back to their own dancing. Linn and Bjorn moved closer and wrapped their arms around each other, Linn's cheek resting on his chest. They swayed together and thought the night ended far too soon.

One o'clock was fast on it's way, and even with all the fun they had they didn't want to have the Avengers come looking for them. It might throw a damper on the party for everyone else to have super heroes barge in and drag Linn and Bjorn out.

Since they didn't want to disturb the rest of their friend group or make them leave the after party early, the intergalactic teens called up Tony Stark. He took his sweet time getting there, driving another impossibly shiny car, and when he pulled up he looked disappointed.

"Hercules, you're way too much of a Mini-Cap. I can't believe you both want to go home so soon!"

"A lot of other kids left already," Linn said, "Dey all had other after parties to go to and the chaperons are gonna start kicking the ones still in dere out soon."

"Didn't you guys get invited to any after parties?" Tony pouted, unlocking the car doors for them.

"Yeah, but I gotta get up early tomorrow and take down all the decorations."

"I could help you with that if you'd like," Bjorn offered, helping her into the back seat.

"Aw, fanks babe! You're the best," she kissed his cheek and he blushed.

"So you guys aren't even going to get up to any late night fun?" Tony sighed and drove out of the school parking lot once Bjorn had buckled his seatbelt. "Geez, you're much better behaved kids than I was."

"Man of Iron, I would appreciate it if you didn't meddle in our relationship. It is ours and we will move at our own pace."

"Alright! Alright!" Tony laughed, "I mind my own beeswax."

"Thank you."

When they got back to the tower they were immediately interrogated by Captain America and Thor. Once they'd suffered through twenty minutes of scolding for returning at one forty-five instead of one precisely, they were told to go to bed. As they headed for the elevator, Tony complained that Cap and Thor were such spoil sports.

"Back in my day they would have had a chaperon-"

"You're such a grandpa!"

"Back in my day they would have been married by now!" Thor laughed, "If their parents approved of the match, that is. Clearly Maisy approves. Do we know anything of Bjorn's parents' stance on the matter?"

"Are you trying to arrange a marriage?!"

"Obviously they are well suited to one another-"

"She's fifteen!" Cap and Tony said at the same time, though they both seemed surprised that they agreed. Linn and Bjorn left them to their argument, getting into the elevator and pressing the "close door" button until it did what it was supposed to. For a moment there was an awkward silence, but then Linn started to giggle.

"Sweet Andromeda, tonight was a fun night!"

"You enjoyed yourself?" Bjorn smiled at her.

"Course I did! I got to spend time wif my favorite guy and dance and see my friends and wear the most beautiful dress in the universe," she twirled and then hugged him, "It was amazing! Did you have fun too?"

"I don't see how I could not have fun with you around, Linn."

"Oh, dis is me," she sighed when the elevator door opened. Bjorn was staying on Thor's floor and Linn on Natasha's until they could go back to the apartment. (Loki's stink bomb had really done a number on the space.)

"Good night," Bjorn was going to let her go, but just as she started to step out of the elevator he reached forward and took her hand. When she spun to look at him, he pulled her close and gave her a passionate kiss. To his delight, she returned it and they stayed that way for longer than they probably should have.

When they came up for air Linn blushed and quickly darted away, shooting him a happy smile over her shoulder. Bjorn fell back into the elevator and thoughtfully touched his lips. As the doors closed he felt nothing but immense joy that he'd asked her to the prom. Even if it was just a silly Midgardian thing.

**A note from the author: I had so, so, so much fun writing this story and creating a prom look for Linn. It's been a long time since I've been to prom and the one I went to was very small, but I had a good time and I hope I captured that here as well as Linn's enthusiasm for, well, everything. I also felt bad that prom has been canceled for everyone this year and I wanted to put out this story as a sort of consolation prom. **

**If you'd like to see what Linn's prom dress, hair, and makeup look like I drew a picture of it and I'm going to post it on Deviantart (I use the same username there) for anyone who wants to see it. Did you go to prom? What color was your dress? My first prom dress was black and light pink and I found it at a thrift store for, like, twenty bucks or something. I felt super pretty in it and I thought I was soooo cool (I wasn't). **

**Thank you so much for reading! I hope you all are staying safe out there in this wack-a-doodle time. Remember to wash your hands or else Loki will curse you with an absurd mustache for the rest of your days.**

**Special thanks to my reviewers:**

**Guest: Always happy to make someone laugh! :)**

**Ninja Squirrel: Gosh dang it. Why do you always give me story ideas? I may or may not now be working on a "non-canon" fic where Berilo is his own person and flirts with Maisy. Not sure when it will be done because I've started it three times and figuratively crumpled it up three times, but as soon as I read your review I knew I had to make it a thing. So look forward to that in the future lol. Also, I totally get what you mean about being bored of fanfiction and taking a break. For a minute I was worried you fell off the face of the earth or something equally horrible and I'm relieved to find that that is not the case. I hope that doesn't sound like I'm being greedy for reviews (even though I'm totally greedy for reviews), so don't ever feel obligated to review! Anywho, glad you're back, hope you enjoyed this chapter! :)**

**I will see you in the next chapter!**


	6. Frozen 2

**A brief note: I'm pretty sure that I kept this fairly spoiler free, but there might be some very minor spoilers for ****_Frozen 2_****, so proceed with caution!**

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" Maisy was practically dancing into the movie theater as she squealed in delight. Linn was bouncing along beside her and Loki brought up the rear, arms crossed and eyes rolling. He was less than excited to be roped into watching this _Frozen 2_ with his wife and friend, thinking they probably should just wait until they could download the movie onto Maisy's computer and then watch the film from the comfort of Asgard. However, he knew that Maisy and Linn wanted to see the film immediately and that they would probably spoil it for him by talking about it endlessly. And as annoyed as he was with Disney movies, he didn't want to be bombarded by spoilers.

"I preordered out tickets as soon as we stepped out of the Bifrost," Maisy told them, holding up her phone, "We should be able to jump right in the line and not worry about the box office. So let's—oh wow."

"Oh wow," Linn agreed.

"Ugh, mortals," Loki huffed, seeing that they might have to wait in line for quite some time. People filled the movie theater lobby and they were all wearing t-shirts and cosplays of the characters from the first _Frozen_ movie.

"Oof, maybe we should have gone to the matinee," Maisy commented, "Or gotten here earlier."

"But we couldn't have," Linn frowned, "I was in school."

"I know," Maisy sighed and then laughed, "Maybe we should have texted you to pretend like you were sick so that we could have gone earlier."

"Maisy!" Loki exclaimed, "You are the one who is always insisting that Linn complete her schooling! You can't just—"

"I was joking!" Maisy elbowed him playfully.

"Da line is moving!" Linn stepped about five inches closer to their auditorium and then stopped again. "What da heck? Why are dey taking so long?"

"I think they're letting the people who were in the auditorium last move out of the way so that we aren't bumping into each other. Normally they clean between showings, but there must be so many people trying to watch that they don't have time," Maisy stood on tiptoe to see the other audience leaving. She accidentally made eye contact with a woman wearing a beautiful Elsa cosplay who smirked at her.

"Did you make that cosplay yourself?" Maisy asked when the woman was closer to them. "What kind of fabric did you use? That's amazing!"

"I didn't make it," the woman smirked, "Who makes their own clothes? I bought this off a high quality cosplay site. It probably cost more than your rent."

"Oh," Maisy blinked and then laughed, "Yeah probably. Custom clothes are super expensive! Whoever made it did a fantastic job though! You look incredible!"

"I know," the woman glanced at Linn, who was wearing a snowflake covered Disney mouse ears hat that they'd purchased from the Disney Store. "And aren't you all… cute."

"Fanks!" Linn beamed, giving the elastic chin strap on her hat a snap, "We're so excited to see da movie!"

"Hmm," the woman smiled, though it didn't reach her eyes. Her nose wrinkled and she shook her head a bit, "You'll love the part where CENSORED CENSORED CENSORED."

Maisy and Linn gaped at the woman and then stared at each other.

"Censored?" Maisy asked in confusion, "Did you just self censor spoilers?"

"What? No. I… CENSORED! And then CENSORED! Ugh! What is happening?!"

"I suggest you move along," Loki grinned at her, arms crossed. The woman glared at him and, with a swish of her cape, stormed out of the building.

"What da heck just happened?"

"I feared there might be over eager humans who would 'spoil' the movie for us. I cast a spell on this building as soon as we entered to keep spoilers for any film to be uttered by the movie goers."

"Wow."

"You're welcome."

The line finally got moving and the little group found their seats in the theater. Loki reached into his jacket as soon as they sat down and pulled out a flat black disk. He punched the center of it and Maisy and Linn watched in confusion as a huge top hat expanded from the disk. Plopping the five foot tall hat on his head, Loki settled into his seat with a contented smile.

Maisy heard the people behind them grumbling as the trailers began to play and she elbowed Loki. He shrugged.

"This is my movie watching hat."

"Loki…"

"Am I breaking a rule? A law? A policy? I saw no signs against stylish hats."

"I'm going to get popcorn and candy for us and by the time I get back I expect the hat to be gone," Maisy told him, "Or I refuse to sit next to you."

Loki frowned as his wife left to get snacks, but he didn't plan on taking off the hat. At least not until Linn spoke up.

"You know, if she ain't sittin' next to you then you don't got anyone to hold your hand if you get scared of the movie."

"It is a Disney film. I will not be scared."

"That's what you said about _Dumbo,_" Linn crossed her arms.

Loki shifted in his seat uncomfortably. "I was not _scared_… it's only that. Err… those pink elephants were unnatural and had _dead eyes_! And, and, at the time that we watched it Maisy was working on a project made of a great deal of pink fabric and…" he lowered his voice, "I may have seen a pile of that fabric in the dark of the night and thought there was a pink elephant haunting our chambers."

Linn snorted with laughter and Loki elbowed her until she stopped.

"Sorry, dat was mean of me to laugh," she raised her eyebrows, "Don't worry, I'm sure dere won't be any pink elephants in dis movie so it won't matter if Maisy sits really far away from you. And I'm _sure_ you won't be asked to leave the theater because of your stupid hat."

"It was only a joke," Loki grumbled, taking off the hat and folding it up again. It was not a moment too soon, either. Right as he put the folded hat away in his jacket pocket, Maisy came back with three boxes of candy and a huge tub of popcorn.

They sat in almost silence as the trailers played, every now and then Maisy would comment quietly on her wish to see an upcoming film or someone would cough obnoxiously. Before long the already dim lights shut off completely and all hushed whispering stopped. Maisy took Loki's hand in hers and squeezed it with excitement. Linn bounced in her seat and then the movie began.

As the film progressed Loki found it to be not entirely dull. He'd enjoyed the first film simply because Maisy had forced him to love it, but he knew sequels were never as good and had thought this would be the case with _Frozen 2_. However, apart from some of the obvious merchandising ploys, he quite liked how the plot progressed. When he looked at his movie watching companions he found that they were utterly enthralled by the two sisters, the blond oaf, the reindeer, and the talking snowman.

Every time a character had a costume change he heard Maisy gasp and saw her lean forward in her seat. She stared at the screen in fascination, as if memorizing every tiny detail of the new outfits. Loki was fairly certain that the many different dresses worn by the princesses were because the film company wanted to sell toys, but he planned not to mention this because he knew Maisy would be irritated with such a comment. Besides, it was fun to see her obsess over something she was passionate about and he didn't want to take that away from her.

Linn was excited about the dresses, but she seemed more interested whenever there was a new song. Since the teenager had been listening to the soundtrack from the first movie on repeat for the past few weeks, she was glad to have some new tunes to jam out to. She was pretty sure that her roommate, Natasha Romanoff, would be thankful to let go of "Let It Go" and "In Summer". Even Bjorn was getting annoyed with Linn's constant performances and he'd purchased ear plugs to muffle her humming when they had study dates.

When the film came to an end and all of the credits and the scene at the end of them had played, Maisy was smiling dreamily and Linn was already humming one of the new songs. Loki desperately swiped at his eyes and nose and was careful not to make any sniffling sounds. However, he was not careful enough and Maisy's hand quickly found his. When he'd finished wiping his eyes he looked at her and she was smiling gently at him.

"You okay?"

"I'm perfectly fine, thank you," he blinked rapidly, "A popcorn kernel was caught in my eye."

"What? Ow! How…"

"I mean, no," he laughed, "I meant my teeth. And… it is painful."

"Right…" She narrowed her eyes at him, "That's why you were crying?"

"I wasn't crying," he huffed, "My eyes were watering."

"You weren't scared, were ya?" Linn snickered, "Dere were no pink elephants in this one."

"I have no qualms about making pink elephants disappear," Loki glared pointedly at her, "Along with other pink creatures, should I need to."

"Hey Linn, why don't you see if you can get a refill on our popcorn buckets?" Maisy stacked the popcorn containers in Linn's hands. "Thank you!"

Linn grumbled something about "only joking" and shuffled out of the auditorium. The theater staff were trying to get everyone out so that they could get the next group into their seats in a timely manner so Maisy knew they wouldn't have much time to talk. She turned to her husband and patted his arm reassuringly.

"It was a good movie, don't you think?"

"Yes. Quite."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Okay," she shrugged and fell silent for a moment before making another comment, "Is it just me, or do Elsa and Anna remind you a bit of you and Thor?"

"No, that's preposterous. Really. They are Disney princesses and I am the king of Asgard. And Thor is… an oaf."

"Right, right," Maisy nodded, "Of course, but there were a few similarities, you have to admit."

"Having the ability to control ice does not a Jotun make," Loki huffed and then sighed, "But I suppose I can see the connections. However," he wiped his eyes again and then rolled them, "Our tale does not have such a happy ending. Nor shall it ever."

"You don't know that."

"Thor can be happy thinking I am dead and I can be happy with my throne, but we won't have a happy ending together."

"Maybe someday," Maisy shrugged again, "You never know."

Loki harrumphed, but didn't comment.

"And I don't think he's happy thinking you are dead," she continued quietly, "In fact, I'm pretty sure he's heartbroken. You _are_ his brother."

"I'm sure he put on a good show for the funeral, but after that he just—"

"Gets a sad look on his face every time he and I talk about you? Looks like he wants to cry whenever he thinks about you? Visibly droops when he tells me how much you would enjoy something and then realizes he can't tell you about it? Yeah, that sure seems fake."

"Maisy, do not try to guilt me into revealing myself."

"I'm not. I'm just saying that he'd probably be a lot happier if things turned out like they did in this movie than they actually did."

"I can't believe you are trying to use _Frozen 2_ to convince me to give up my throne."

"I'm not! It's just something to think about," she picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder. "C'mon, let's get a move on before they kick us out."

"Ugh, Maisy," Loki caught up to her and put his hand on her shoulder, "I know you mean well, but I am not changing, alright?"

"I wasn't expecting you to. I just wanted to remind you that you are loved by your friends and your family," she turned around and kissed his cheek with a smile, "I also just wanted to make sure you were okay. You know… after you got that popcorn kernel stuck in your eye."

"Oh."

"Oh," she wove her fingers together with his, "So, are you okay?" `

"I am fine, thank you," he gestured to his face, "Perhaps some of your hormonal energy is rubbing off on me. That film affected me more than I thought it would."

"I am pretty sure that's not how it works."

They both laughed and found Linn, who had refilled the popcorn buckets and was waiting with a grouchy expression. She shoved one of the buckets at Loki as they left the theater.

"Didn't mean nuffin by what I said, Loki," she grumbled, "I'm sorry I upset ya."

"And I apologize for snapping at you, Linn. Typically, I do enjoy your teasing."

"I am pretty good at it, ain't I?"

Loki rolled his eyes and ruffled her hair affectionately. "Yes, I suppose you are."

"Maisy," Linn's tone quickly changed, "Which dress was your favorite? I loved Elsa's purpley one! Even though I hate purple dresses usually."

"Ugh, yes! So gorgeous! But I really loved the attention to detail on Anna's main dress. I could _die_ for that color scheme!"

"Personally, I liked Anna's dress at the end of the film," Loki commented, "Now there is a color palette worth dying for. In fact, I may have to commission a cape like the one she wore for formal gatherings. Not that I am ever allowed to look like myself at such events, but one never knows when one will need a glamorous cape."

"Oh my gosh! You would look fabulous!" Maisy exclaimed, "The purple lining would look so good with your hair. And I could make you an altered version of the rest of her outfit!" Maisy gasped even louder, "And I could make a dress based off of Kristoff's outfit from that scene for me to wear! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh! We could wear them to a Halloween party or a cosplay contest or, or, or—"

"Slow down or you'll pass out from excitement," Loki laughed, "I suppose this means we need to get you back to Asgard so you can raid Madame Veru's supply room?"

"No, no, no!" Linn piped up, "You guys promised we'd eat pizza together before you left. After dat you can go make awesome outfits."

"Oh alright, pizza first, fabulousness later," Maisy sighed.

Laughing and chatting about the movie all the way to the pizza place, it was safe to say that _Frozen 2_ had been a hit with the group of friends.

**A note from the author: *peeks out of quarantine bunker* Hello... I know it's been a while. There might not even be an audience for this story any more, but in case there is, uh, hi! Sorry! As I'm sure you are all aware, life has been a tad bit insane lately. I hope you are all staying safe and healthy and that you are all doing well. I'm healthy and safe, but work has been nuts lately and life in general has been pretty exhausting. So I've been doing a lot more reading than I have been writing because that's just easier. But now I'm on the flip side and writing is easier than reading (don't even ask me how that works). However, I can't think of any new stories for Loki and Maisy right now so I'm posting one that I wrote right after I watched Frozen 2 for the first time.**

**I hope you enjoyed it, I have a few more pre-written stories and some in the works that I will hopefully post soon. We'll just see how it goes!**

**I also wanted to let you guys know that you can feel free to PM me any time, or if you don't have an account you can email me at my super duper official author email: c. gmail dot com. Whether you have questions about my fanfiction, my other writing, or just want to talk about something like, idk, the best places to buy soft pretzels. **

**Thank you so much for reading!**

**Special thanks to my two reviewers:**

**MetallicarBaby: I was trying to think of cool prom themes and at first all I could think of was Under the Sea, which is such a prom cliche lol, but then I was like SPACE! Now I think that the prom planning ****committee should have come to me for advice. XD**

**Guest: Thank you! I thought it would be a good match for her spunky personality!**

**Until next time! Which is hopefully closer than last time!**


	7. I Do Adore

**A brief note from the author: Please look up the song "I Do Adore" by Mindy Gledhill to go with this chapter. :)**

* * *

"Please? Pretty, pretty please?" Maisy danced around him as he kept turning away from her request. She grabbed his hand and held it tightly. He ignored her still. He was determined to remain unmoved. Even her wide brown eyes, peering into his soul, would not convince him to partake in her ridiculous idea.

"No."

"But it's literally the only song I know how to play on the ukulele and Linn is letting me borrow her ukulele!"

"I will not be goaded into such silliness."

"Oh come on! I've convinced you to do dumber things than this."

"Such as?"

"Spend Christmas on earth. Wear that sun hat I made you. Stay married to me," she teased, poking him gently in the arm, "That's the dumbest thing you've ever done, you have to admit."

"Nonsense," he softened, trying to hold back a grin, "I've always thought that's one of the better decisions I've made."

"And why's that?"

"Your head is big enough without more compliments, my dear."

"Pleeeease?"

"You can't make me…"

She dropped his hands and ran to scoop up the ukulele (which was a lovely turquoise color and had a smiley face sticker on it). She began lightly strumming, focusing hard on what she was doing and messing up the notes a few times before getting it right.

"No. Put that thing away. We aren't doing this."

"C'mon Loki! You know you want to!"

"I most certainly do not want to and I will not do it."

She strummed more intensely, though the tune remained light and airy. Loki rolled his eyes. Maisy giggled and he knew that sound would be his undoing.

"Stop it," he tried once more, "All Midgardian music is idiotic!"

"There's only one way to make me stop!" She giggled again and he felt his resolution crack. Maisy spotted his moment of weakness and kissed his cheek, still playing the stupid Midgardian instrument. "So tell me, my wonderful husband, why is it that you're glad you married me?"

Loki took a deep breath and gave one more defiant roll of his eyes before giving in and starting to sing.

"_Everything you do it sends me_

_Higher than the moon with every_

_Twinkle in your eye_

_You strike a match that lights my heart on fire…"_

Maisy's face had nearly split in two with her enormous grin and she picked up the next few lines.

"_When you're near, I hide my blushing face_

_And trip on my shoelaces_

_Grace just isn't my forté_

_But it brings me to my knees when you say…"_

She trailed off intentionally and Loki grumbled a bit before continuing the song: "_Hello, how are you, my darling, today?"_

Maisy giggled: "_I fall into a pile on the floor."_

Loki cringed at his next line: "_Puppy love is hard to ignore…"_

Even though he was supposed to sing the last line of the chorus alone she chimed in and they sang together: "_When every little thing you do, I do adore."_

"You're doing great!"

"I hate this."

"You love it. I know you do!" She kept strumming, "Why else do you love me?"

"_We're as different as can be_

_I've noticed you're remarkably relaxed_

_And I'm overly uptight_

_We balance out each other nicely."_

"We really do," Maisy agreed before singing her part:

"_You wear sandals in the snow_

_In mid-July I still feel cold_

_We're opposites in every way_

_But I can't resist it when you say…"_

Loki barely hesitated.

"_Hello, how are you, my darling, today?"_

"_I fall into a pile on the floor!"_

"_Puppy love is hard to ignore."_

They sang together again: "_When every little thing you do, I do adore."_

"Admit it, you're having fun!"

"I am not," he smirked before singing again:

"_Finding words, I mutter_

_Tongue-tied, twisted_

_Foot in mouth, I start to stutter_

_Nuh, nuh, Norns help me!"_

Still playing the ukulele, Maisy laughed at his change in the words, even if it didn't flow quite as smoothly. This time she started the chorus.

"_Hello, how are you, my darling, today?"_

He picked up her part: "_I fall into a pile on the floor_."

"_Puppy love is hard to ignore," _she sang back before they both chimed in together.

"_When every little thing you do, I do I adore."_

Loki moved closer to her and pressed his hand to her cheek, admiring her features and feeling a fluttering in his heart even after so many months together. He smiled softly at her and kept singing.

"_Every little thing… bah, bah, bah, bah."_

She closed her eyes smiled back, leaning into his hand. She sang back at him.

"_Every little thing… bah, bah, bah, bah."_

And their voices became one again for the final words:

"_Every little thing you do, I do… adore."_

Before she could play the last few notes on the ukulele, Loki kissed her soundly and gently took the instrument from her hand, laying on the table. With their hands free they embraced and laughed together quietly. Though the music had stopped, it played on in their heads (it _was_ an absurdly catchy tune) and they swayed to the rhythm only they could hear… until they heard someone speak up from over by the door.

"I fink I'm gonna die," Linn whispered.

Loki spun to stare at her and she yelped in surprise, nearly dropping Maisy's phone, which she had stolen.

"What are you doing?" He snapped.

"Nuffin! Certainly not videoing my bestest friends singin' a song together!"

"You didn't," he snarled and Maisy covered her mouth to hide a smile.

"I, uh, kinda did," Linn admitted sheepishly.

"And you will delete it this second."

"No way! I'm keeping dis forever! I'm gonna go talk to the Asgardian IT department and get dem to make me my own copy of dis!"

"Linnea, you will do no such thing!"

"Uh oh," Maisy whispered, "Linn, you'd better run!"

"On it!" Linn chirped, sprinting away from their room, holding the phone aloft like a trophy.

"You come back here!" Loki bellowed, starting to run after her. Before he could get far Maisy grabbed his hand and held him back. He huffed in irritation, "That little scoundrel!"

"Oh let it go," Maisy wrapped her arms around his waist and he calmed down a little.

"Fine. For now. But if she shows Thor I'll make her wish she'd never set foot near me!"

"But you gotta admit you had fun."

"I most certainly did not," he returned her embrace and rested his chin on the top of her head, "It was horrible and I'll never do it again."

"Not even if I want to sing 'A Thousand Years' by Christina Perri with you?" She giggled, "I went through a _Twilight _phase as a teenager."

"What is that?"

"You'd hate it."

"Then why would I sing the song with you?"

"Because you love me," she rested her face against his chest.

"Mm," he agreed, "I suppose you could say that _every little thing you do, I do adore._"

Her smile brought back the fluttery feeling in his heart and he began softly humming as they swayed again.

**A note from the author: As soon as I listened to "I Do Adore" the first time I knew I had to write a fic with Maisy and Loki singing it together. So that's where this came from. :D**

**FLUFF FLUFF FLUFF. The world is terrible so what do we need? FLUFF. You got it. SGQ is on the case. We got fluff for days folks! And we haven't even gotten to the chapters with the babies yet... oops did I type that out loud? That's right! There will be chapters with the Laisy offspring! I'm not sure if anyone will read it or not because I kinda lost all of my lovely readers when I took a months long ****hiatus****, but if anyone out there still cares, let it be known that the babies shall have chapters!**

**In all seriousness, I hope you are all doing well and staying safe and healthy. Thank you so much for reading!**


	8. What's in my bag?

**A quick note from the author and context disclaimer: This is just a fun little oneshot that I was thinking of, it doesn't really take place during the actual story, but it's at their apartment on earth. Anyway, it's based off of the YouTube "What's in my purse?"** **challenge thing, which, if you don't know, is exactly what it sounds like. Anyway, I hope you enjoy! :)**

"...a hairbrush, even dough I don't really need it wif my short hair, four—uh _five_ candy bar wrappers, a candy bar. Twix is one of da best fings about dis planet," Linn prattled, and then stuck her head in her backpack, "Oh! Can't forget dis guy! My friend, Bibi, gave him to me, she says dat his name is Wookie and he's a Chewbacca. I keep him in my backpack for moral support mostly."

Linn cuddled the small plush under her chin and smiled at the camera in front of her. She was just about to say her outro and turn it off, but all of a sudden there was a knock on her bedroom door and Maisy poked her head in.

"Are you busy?" She asked.

"Uh… I was… making a YouTube video," Linn blushed and reached to turn off her camera, "What's up?"

"Oh geesh! I'm sorry! Don't stop, I'll just doo doo doo," Maisy backed up and closed the door. An idea struck Linn all of a sudden and she left her camera on.

"Maisy, come back!"

"Boop boop boop," Maisy poked her head back in the room with a goofy smile, "Yeah?"

"You wanna be in my video?"

"Oooh! Yes! If you're sure that's okay."

"Yeah! But you gotta get your purse first, I'm doing the 'what's in my bag' challenge fingy," Linn instructed.

"That sounds fun! Let me go get it," Maisy darted out of the room, past Loki, who was glaring at the book he was reading, snatched the small backpack she used as a purse, and ran back to Linn's room, "Okay! I'm ready! How do we do this?"

"Well, first tell us about da bag itself. It's very cute."

"Aw thanks! It's a vintage styled—not actually vintage, sadly—faux leather and canvas, black backpack. This one is a little bit big to be a purse, but it holds my sketchbook, which is a big necessity for me when looking for a bag," Maisy held up her bag for the camera to see and turned it to display every angle.

"If you guys didn't already know," Linn leaned in conspiratorially, "Maisy is a fashion designer. She designed a gala dress for Tony Stark's girlfriend, Pepper!"

"Yaaay!" Maisy did jazz hands.

"Now, da juicy part! What's in dere?"

"Nothing too exciting right now," Maisy lifted the top flap and pulled out her sketchpad, "The aforementioned sketchpad, my husband gave me this one, it's bound with some kind of Asgardian leather or something. Really swanky stuff."

"Can we see some of the sketches?" Linn asked. Maisy's face turned bright red.

"Erm, there aren't any finished designs in here… mostly just drawings for inspiration and other things I wanted to draw."

"Just one? Please?"

"Um… alright," Maisy opened the sketchbook and quickly flipped through the pages, Linn peeked over her shoulder and laughed.

"Why you got so many drawings of Loki?" The younger girl teased.

"It's not that many!"

"Dere, dere, dere, dat's another one—Sweet Andromeda! Is dat a nude drawing?!"

"No! He's wearing shorts!"

Linn laughed so loudly that Loki himself poked his head in the room, concerned. This, of course, just made the teenager laugh louder and made Maisy more bashful. She quickly turned her sketchbook around and pointed at it, showing the camera.

"Look! Here's design idea for Steve's suit! See! Not all of my drawings are of—"

"Why did you draw me in Captain Roger's outfit?" Loki asked, coming closer and peering at the artwork. "And what are you two doing in here?"

"Oh good grief…" Maisy snapped the sketchbook closed and buried her face in her hands. "Can we move on, please?"

"What's going on?" Loki asked again, "Why the camera?"

"Linn is making a video and in the video I'm supposed to show everything that I have in my bag," Maisy set aside her sketchbook, "Except now Linn can't stop laughing so we might have to call it quits."

"No! No! I can get it under control!" Linn giggled and covered her mouth, "I've got it under control. Please. Continue."

"Well…" Maisy narrowed her eyes at her friend, "I have my emergency makeup kit, which comes in handy more often than you think. Especially since Loki and I use the same shade of foundation and concealer."

"I do not regularly use either of those products!" Loki protested, "Only in emergencies."

"My wallet… which is practically empty. Oh hey! My school ID. Huh. I wonder if I can still get the student discount at the movie theater," she set the wallet aside, "Phone, sunscreen, fabric swatch, pads, fabric swatch, tampons, fabric swatch, aww, this one is from my wedding dress!"

"Aww!"

"Why do you have so much fabric in your purse?"

"It just kinda ends up there. And buttons. Thankfully, no pins or needles so far."

"A handful of more fabric swatches, chapstick, water bottle, super cute umbrella that looks like a unicorn when you open it," Maisy held up the umbrella and set it aside, "Oh dear…"

She reached into the bag with both hands and pulled out an approximate ton of colored pencils, graphite pencils, markers, and even a few crayons.

"And that's not even all of them," Loki commented, looking in the bag. "Norns, do you need all of those? You have a huge box full of drawing utensils in your design space as well."

"Yes! I need them all!" Maisy protectively put the pencils back in her bag and shot a glare at him.

"Is dat everyfing in your bag?" Linn asked.

"There are a few used tissues and my bottle of ibuprofen," Maisy poked around a bit more, "A couple of daggers, oh, babe, this one is yours."

"I had wondered where that got off to!" Loki took the dagger from her and vanished it out of sight.

Linn stared at him curiously for a moment, head tilting as another idea came to her.

"Loki?"

"Yes?"

"Where does your knives get off to when you make 'em disappear like that? And all of the other stuff you poof around?"

"Yeah, I'm curious about that too," Maisy zipped up her bag and tossed it on Linn's bed. "Where does it all come from?"

"You're asking how I can conjure things like this," Loki flicked his wrist and a knife balanced on the tip of his finger, "Or this?" Another flick and the knife vanished and a single red rose took its place.

"You should do birfday parties," Linn commented.

Loki handed the rose to Maisy.

"I keep many necessities in a pocket dimension and what I do not have in the pocket dimension, I simply make an illusion of," he waved his hand and the rose turned into Linn's hairbrush. "Between the two and a bit of sleight of hand I can usually accomplish what I need to."

"What's a pocket dimension?" Linn asked.

"A tiny dimension I created that I can access with my spells whenever I want. I store things in it, mostly."

"What does it look like in dere?"

"Would you like to see?"

"Yes!" Maisy and Linn chimed in unison.

"Well, that's too bad. It's really more of a void than a room. I put all of the things I want inside and I concentrate on what I'm looking for and cast a spell to bring it from that dimension into ours."

"So we can't go inside your magical storage closet?"

"Afraid not."

"But you could show us what's inside?" Linn grinned, "Like a 'what's in my pocket dimension' video?"

"I suppose I could show you some of it," Loki shrugged, "Shall I begin?"

"Please do!"

Loki proceeded to flick his wrist and make several dozen knives and daggers appear. He explained to the camera that one could never have too much weaponry readily available. Making the knives vanish he flicked his wrist again and four golden helmets appeared along with the floppy sun hat Maisy had created for him. Each helmet was slightly different in style and Loki tried them all on for the camera.

Twenty minutes later, he'd showed them a wide range of odds and ends that he'd collected over the centuries. Most of it was related to self defense or magical studies, but there were many artifacts that looked like they could belong in a Midgardian museum. Maisy was especially shocked when he showed them something that looked an awful lot like the Tiffany Diamond on the very necklace setting that Audrey Hepburn had worn.

"Whoa, that's an amazing copy of—"

"It's not a copy," Loki smirked.

"That can't be the Tiffany Diamond," Maisy crossed her arms at the yellow jewel, "It's at Tiffany & Co. I've seen it there on a class field trip."

"That, my lady, is the fake."

"Linn. Please pause the camera," Maisy said cooly. Linn did as she asked. "Loki! You have the freaking Tiffany Diamond?!"

"I may have borrowed it in 1961 when a lovely movie star looked the other way," he grinned smugly and held out the necklace, "Isn't it lovely?"

"Loki! You can't!"

"I did."

"You stole it from Audrey Hepburd?!"

"I gave her a very convincing replica, obviously. The fake has been the one on earth since I snagged it."

"Who is Tiffany?" Linn asked.

"You have to give it back!"

"Why? They haven't noticed that it's missing yet."

"Loki!"

"Wouldn't you like to try it on?" He asked, holding it out to her, "I imagine it would look even better when hung around your neck."

Maisy's eyes went wide and, against her will, her hand tentatively reached up and nearly touched the gem. She quickly pulled her hand back.

"I can't!"

"Why not? Is it not fit for the Princess of Asgard?"

"I'm not fit for it!" Maisy protested, "Only four other women in the world have worn it!"

"Technically, two, since I replaced it before Madame Googoo or whoever, wore it."

"Lady Gaga," Maisy corrected, "Oh my gosh… this is so bad! We need to take it to Lady Gaga's house so that she can actually wear it! And Gal Gadot is supposed to wear it in her new movie! They filmed the whole thing with a fake!"

"Forget them. Don't you want to wear it?"

"I want to wear it!" Linn raised her hand.

"After Maisy," Loki nodded.

"We can't!"

"Why not? I've tried it on a few times. It does wonders for confidence."

Maisy bit her lip and watched him run the necklace through his hands.

"Okay! Alright! But as soon as we've tried it on we are taking it back to Fifth Avenue!"

"If the lady insists," Loki laughed, reaching to place the necklace on her.

"No wait! I can't wear it with my t-shirt and sweats!" Maisy grabbed Linn's arm and dragged her into her design space. They came back into the room, both wearing glitzy evening gowns that Maisy had designed in case they ever needed to walk the red carpet. Linn's was a deep turquoise color with golden peacock feathers embroidered across the bodice and part of the skirt. Her own dress was a green so deep that it looked black until it hit the light, with a simple gold belt and golden cap sleeves along with a cape made of glimmering gold fabric that trailed behind her and was covered in subtle gold embroidery in Asgardian patterns.

"My hair doesn't match the outfit!" Maisy's hands flew to her bright purple hair, "Loki would you please change it to platinum? Oh! And do our makeup!"

"Done. Now are you ready for this trinket?"

"Trinket?!" Maisy sputtered.

"Oh calm down," he stepped behind her and placed the necklace around her neck, "Ah! Beautiful."

Maisy looked like she might pass out from excitement as she gently touched the huge diamond. She quickly went to Linn's mirror and admired herself with a smile.

"Wow…"

"We have better jewelry in Asgard if sparkly rocks make you so happy," Loki laughed, "We really ought to raid the treasury."

"We gotta take your picture!" Linn exclaimed, picking up her phone.

"But we can't show it to anyone! Ever! No one can know about this!" Maisy said hurriedly.

Loki changed the background to look like the Asgardian throne room, and Linn snapped a picture. Then they moved the necklace to Linn's neck and took another picture. After a few more moments ogling the diamond, they changed back into their casual clothes and returned to the video camera, Linn promising to delete the footage of the Tiffany Diamond.

"What else you got in dere, Loki?"

It took another twenty minutes to get through what Loki claimed was half of the items in his pocket dimension.

"...Nick Fury's eyepatch, Odin's eyepatch, an eyepatch I've saved in case Thor ever loses an eye—with all of the stupid things he does it's bound to happen sooner or later. Hmm, oh, a tissue box I enchanted to have an everlasting supply of tissues after Maisy caught a cold, socks, socks, socks, boots, hmm, I think I may have borrowed these boots from someone I used to know. This cane belonged to a dear friend of mine who I met in London during the reign of Queen Victoria. Twenty books, because you never know when you'll be stuck waiting on your brother to finish arm wrestling a troll, a few of my mother's belongings that I may or may not have stolen from the Vault, Asgardian coin, a few things I borrowed from Stark to drive him crazy. I used to keep a set of wedding bands in there, but," he wiggled his ring finger and gestured to Maisy, "I found where those belong now. I also have a few blankets, a tent, chocolate—"

"Okay! I don't fink we'll ever get frough all of it. Maybe show us one more really interesting fing and we'll call it a day!"

"Hmm, well, if you liked that yellow rock, you will love this!" Loki smiled genuinely and reached into the pocket dimension, "Can you believe that I found so dark an enchanting gem here on Midgard? Incredible! It is quite powerful."

He held out a dark blue diamond, circled with much smaller white diamonds and a diamond chain. With a smile so innocent that Maisy nearly fell for it, he held it up to the camera.

"Quite a pretty little thing, no? I believe they call it the Hope Diamond? Have you heard of it?"

Maisy just gaped, her jaw hanging open.

"Would you care to try this one on as well?"

**A note from the author: He's like a crow, picking up shiny things like diamonds and Infinity Stones. XD I hope you had as much fun with that as I did.**

**I have a few ****announcements to make about future stories from me.**

**First, the next few chapters are going to be... I guess emotional would be the best way to describe it. The chapter after this one is basically going to be fluffy angst so you have that to look forward to. **

**After that, well, I may have tried to write a oneshot about when the babies are born and it may or may not have turned into a multi-chapter thing. Right now it's kind of at 10,000 words... so... yeah. You'll get plenty of baby content, MetallicarBaby. ;)**

**(I'm not going to commit to saying this, because it might not happen, but... rumor has it that I might also be working on another full length story about Maisy and Loki's kids as teenagers. Possibly. But you didn't hear that from me.)**

**My final big announcement is that I'm working on a Bucky Barnes X OC story! Yay! I have a few chapters written, but I'm not going to post anything until I have at least twenty chapters written (which isn't too far off), that way I can give you content with much less waiting in between chapters. If you happen to be a Bucky fan it might interest you! It involves a lot of fluff, possible angst, lots of "lend me a hand" *throws arm* jokes, and rooooomaaaance ooooooh. There might even be a reference to Maisy and Loki at some point. Possibly a few. Maybe a cameo. I might do a heckin crossover if I get really into it.**

**Anyway, that's what's new with me. Thanks for hanging out! :D**

**Until next time!**


	9. The Queen

Being woken up in the middle of the night, even by one's husband, is never a pleasant experience. Maisy's first instinct to Loki softly tapping her shoulder was to pull her pillow over her face and grumble something incoherent that sounded like "I'll sew the buttons on later… I need five more minutes". Loki tapped her shoulder again, however, and spoke a bit louder. This time she actually worked up the energy to hit him in the face with the pillow.

"Ssshhhh," she said, "I'm sleeping."

"Come on now, darling," Loki chuckled, "I need you to wake up."

"Why?"

"I have a surprise I want to share with you."

"A surprise?" She rolled over and looked up at him, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Her currently blue hair was tangled and stuck out in every direction. "What kind of surprise?"

"There is someone I want you to meet."

"In the middle of the night?"

"It is the only time they can visit," Loki brushed her crazy hair out of her face and bopped her nose with his finger, "Won't you get up?"

"Mmm…" she closed her eyes for a minute and thought. Opening her eyes again she watched his face. There was excitement there, but also sadness and worry. He was dressed nicely, in more formal attire as if he had to appear before the court.

"Please, Maisy?"

"Of course," she shoved the blankets back and rolled out of bed, "Let me find clothes. Formal wear?"

"If you don't mind. But whatever you feel comfortable in is fine," he stood and smoothed the wrinkles in his leather coat and his green tunic, "Do you think… do I look presentable?"

"Hmm, I'd say wear taller boots and tuck your pants into them," Maisy responded, opening her wardrobe and selecting a flowy green and gold dress and a black wrap to go with it to fight the chill of the late summer night. Loki nodded and used magic to take her suggestion.

Maisy finished dressing in silence, fastening the cloak-like wrap around her shoulders with a broach that bore Loki's double snake symbol on it. After brushing her hair out she was ready to go and took the arm that Loki offered. Disguising himself to look like a guard, he led her through the halls of the palace and out through the main door. Maisy was surprised to see many others walking in the same direction as them.

"What is everyone doing up so late?"

"You'll see," Loki smiled softly. They boarded a floating airship with a slew of other people and the pilot carried them all off to the shore of the water. Maisy instantly felt uneasy. The last time she'd been in this spot she'd thought she was saying goodbye to her husband forever. Bjorn had lit a floating pyre and everyone thought Loki had gone to Valhalla. Now, even though she knew that it was some poor dead Hydra agent disguised to look like Loki who they'd given a huge send off to, Maisy still felt a painful twist in her heart.

As they landed and stepped onto the shore, people began to light the orb shaped lanterns that they'd used at Loki's funeral. Maisy clutched her husband's arm tightly and looked up at his face. He was still smiling.

"Whose funeral is this? Why are you smiling?" Maisy had an awful thought, "It… it isn't Thor, is it? You didn't kill him, right?"

"What? No!" Loki laughed and received annoyed glares from the other people on the shore, "Sorry."

"What is going on? This looks just like an Asgardian funeral."

"Does it now?" Loki quirked a brow, "The lanterns for a funeral are white. These are quite the welcoming shade of yellow. Not to mention there are quite a few more weapons here than there were at my funeral, don't you think?"

Maisy looked around. Sure enough, nearly every person held some kind of weapon. Even the children had knives. When she looked at Loki for explanation he only handed her a bow staff, seeming to have pulled it from thin air.

"What's this for? Is there an invasion happening?"

"No, but it is best to have weapons at the ready, just in case. You never know who will show up. Though, most of our visitors should be fairly peaceful," he said, his voice quiet as he looked out over the water. The golden lamps reflected in his eyes when Maisy looked up at him, but she also saw that his eyes were quite watery. Unsure of why this would be, she didn't say anything, choosing instead to squeeze his hand and touch her head to his shoulder briefly. She wished she could give him a hug, but there were people watching and she knew she couldn't be too familiar with a guard without arousing suspicion.

They waited in silence for about half an hour. Some of the people waiting on the shore with them had brought picnics and silently ate. Even the children were quiet in their games, choosing to play with tops, dolls, or marbles instead of running around. The youngest ones weren't used to being up so late and dozed in their parents' arms.

Then, at around one in the morning, someone stood up and pointed out over the water.

"They've arrived!"

Maisy stared out where everyone else started to point and saw a cloud of fog rising up from the water. As the fog moved closer to shore it began to form into shapes of people. These people looked a little disoriented and the Asgardians around Maisy raised their weapons in preparation. Loki conjured a dagger into each hand and Maisy let go of his arm in case they needed to fight these fog people.

Most of them came to shore peacefully and began mingling with the Asgardians. They weren't solid beings, but the Asgardians made attempts to hug them anyway. A few of the ghostly figures were not so friendly and roared in displeasure, attacking with terrifyingly solid weapons. These angry fog people were dealt with by the nearest armed Asgardians, who pushed them back into the water, where they stayed, glaring.

Maisy looked around her in wonder, confused. She looked to Loki for explanation, but he was busy scanning the faces of the fog people. His face fell when he didn't find who he was looking for and Maisy took his hand again, lacing her fingers with his.

"What's wrong?" She whispered.

"She didn't come," his voice cracked on the last word and a single tear escaped his eye before he took a deep breath, wiped his face and set his jaw, "Perhaps next year."

Maisy decided to look out at the figures and see if she could spot anyone who looked as if they were searching for Loki. Whoever it was that was supposed to have come evidently meant a great deal to him and she would do anything to take that crushed look off of his face and fill it with a smile instead. In her looking at the fog people she noticed a familiar face and gasped in horror.

"Loki…" she pointed, "How is he here? I thought he was dead."

Loki followed her finger and scowled when he saw who was at the end of it. He cast an illusion over Maisy and when she looked down at herself she was wearing something different and had a completely different skin tone.

"I worried Egil might try and show up," Loki wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders. "Don't worry, he is still dead."

"Then… these are ghosts?"

"Essentially, yes," he nodded, "On earth you have a day called Dia de los Muertos, this is something similar. It is the last day of Asgard's summer. It is the one time in the year when the veil between our realm and Valhala is thin enough that we can expect visitors."

"Really?" Maisy gasped, "That's amazing! Why don't ghosts visit on Midgard?"

"I'm sure they do, but they typically can only go to ancient, magical places. It is easy for them to visit this shore because this is where many of Asgard's dead were sent off. On Midgard things are more confusing and it is difficult for the dead to find their way to their loved ones at times."

Realization donned on Maisy.

"You were looking for your mother!"

"I was. I wanted you to meet her."

"That would have been amazing. I'm so sorry she didn't come. Like you said, maybe next year?"

"Perhaps," Loki nodded, "Though I fear she may be staying away from me."

"Why?"

"It is partially my fault that she died in the first place. I told the Kursed where to go. I was in the dungeon at the time and I thought that if there was enough chaos then… then I could escape. I didn't realize… I didn't know," Loki's hands shook and Maisy wrapped her arms around his waist, glad of the disguise he'd cast for her, "I didn't know he would find his way to Frigga."

"You couldn't have known," Maisy whispered, holding him tighter and wishing that she were big enough to wrap him up in her love, "It's not your fault."

"Frigga wouldn't visit me anyway," a few tears fell from his eyes, "The last thing I said to her was that she was not my mother."

"She knew that you loved her."

"Perhaps not. Perhaps she thinks I loathe her and she doesn't think I even deserve the chance to explain myself. I was so awful to her, Maisy, perhaps she finally gave up on me."

"Or perhaps," a kind, beautiful voice spoke up, "Perhaps she was trying to find Odin first since he is her husband and then she couldn't find her son because he was wearing someone else's face."

Loki's eyes widened and he looked down at Maisy. "Did you hear that?"

"Yes," Maisy grinned and turned toward the voice. She'd seen Frigga's painting before, but it did not do the beautiful queen justice. Her golden hair fell around her in waves and she wore a yellow and blue dress that Maisy couldn't help but gawk at. She briefly wondered who the stylist for the dead was and if there was any way to get in contact with them.

"Mothe—Frigga?" Loki asked, hands shaking.

Frigga smiled craftily and walked toward him, beckoning the couple to follow her. Maisy and Loki glanced at each other before running after the ghost queen. She led them to a quiet part of the shore where a gazebo stood. No one else was around so Loki dropped his and Maisy's disguises.

"You really think I wouldn't come visit you?" Frigga asked, reaching out for his hand, even though hers passed right through.

"Mother," Loki choked on the word, cleared his throat, and tried again, "I thought… I'm so sorry, Mother."

"It's not your fault," Frigga's hands passed over his face, "He would have found me one way or the other. That day would have played out exactly the same way no matter what you did."

"I don't know if that's entirely true," Loki said, but stopped speaking when she narrowed her eyes at him teasingly.

"Always such a contrary boy and now a contrary man," Frigga clucked, "Let's not waste our night with what ifs and what could have beens. I do believe you have much to share with me."

"I do!" Loki wiped his eyes once more and beamed proudly, pulling Maisy closer, "Mother, this is my wife, Maisy Sichore."

"It's an honor to meet you, Your Majesty," Maisy curtsied, unable to stop smiling.

"I had heard news that one of my sons had married," Frigga stepped toward Maisy, "I am somewhat surprised that Loki married first and that he chose a Midgardian for his bride."

"You and the whole universe," Maisy laughed.

"At some point tonight you shall have to explain to me how that happened," Frigga grinned, "But for now, let me just look at you."

Maisy straightened up and Frigga circled around her, nodding. When they were facing each other again the older woman smiled.

"Beautiful."

"Thank you. You're beautiful too! You're gorgeous, actually. Like, wow," Maisy giggled, "I can't believe I actually get to meet you!"

"You aren't disappointed, are you? Many girls find themselves lucky when their mother-in-law is dead before they get the chance to meet them."

Maisy gasped at that, eyes wide.

"Not at all! Loki talks about you so much that I started to miss you and I'd never even met you!"

"Hmm, he is a good son when he isn't off wreaking havoc," Frigga smiled at Loki and he ducked his head bashfully. "And, since there haven't been any new dead in Valhalla bringing news of my son spreading destruction, I must say that you are good for him."

"I don't know about that. I think he was just raised well, err, at least by one of his parents. No offense to Odin."

"Speaking of my husband," Frigga raised a brow, "Loki, where is he?"

"Whaaat? I don't know what you are talking about. Was he not on the beach with everyone else?"

Frigga only crossed her arms and Loki caved.

"Alright, fine. He's on Midgard. Don't worry, he is well looked after, I made sure. And… I possibly also hid his memories of Asgard and gave him new memories of being a lonely old man."

Maisy winced even though she already knew this information.

"To be fair—"

"Hush, Maisy, I haven't decided if I like you yet," Frigga held up a finger.

"Yes ma'am."

"I do not wish to argue tonight, Loki, but you must know that I disapprove of this course of action."

"I know, but—"

"Loki, she said she doesn't want to argue," Maisy whispered and Frigga smiled.

"Alright, I've decided. I do like you. When can I expect grandchildren?"

"Mother!" Loki rolled his eyes, but Maisy just laughed and touched her belly.

"Actually… in about three months."

"OH MY NORNS!" Frigga exclaimed and jumped to hug Maisy, falling right through. She collected herself gracefully and came back around to face her daughter-in-law, beaming. She looked almost giddy at the news, her hands fluttering near Maisy's stomach. "Oh my Norns! How did I not see this! This robe is too deceptive! It hides your lovely belly! Is it a boy or a girl? What do you plan to name the child?"

"Actually," Maisy grinned mischievously and glanced at Loki, "We don't know the genders…"

"A surprise is fun," Frigga nodded knowingly and then paused and clapped her hands to her mouth, "Did you say _genders_? Are you having twins?!"

"Twins," Maisy nodded proudly.

"If I were not already dead I swear I would die from excitement," Frigga fanned herself and then turned to Loki, smiling so widely at him that her face was nearly split in two, "Oh my son, you must be thrilled!"

"I am," Loki wrapped his arm around his wife's shoulders and tilted his chin up with a smile, "We both are. And, of course, Thor is beside himself. Maisy's family—"

"My dad is both happy and furious," Maisy cringed, "Mostly furious because he thinks Loki is dead and left me to fend for myself. But I think he's happy about the babies."

"And your mother?"

"Uh… err, my mom isn't in the picture. I haven't seen her in a long time."

"Hmm," Frigga reached out to take Maisy's hand, which didn't work, but she held her hand above her daughter-in-law's and smiled gently, "My apologies."

"It's fine," Maisy shrugged, realizing that she should probably find her mother at some point and let her know that she was going to be a grandmother. The thought irritated her for some reason. Pearl Franklin had missed so much of Maisy's life that she didn't feel that it would be fair to let her have even a small part in the lives of the twins. But she should know. And seeing how much Loki wished that his mother was still alive made Maisy realize that some day she wouldn't have the option to seek out Pearl any more and then the woman would never know and amends could never be made.

"Now," Frigga broke the silence that had fallen while Maisy thought, "I only have until dawn before it's back to Valhalla and all of the feasting and fighting there. I want you to tell me everything about how you met."

Loki launched into the story without hesitation, adding embellishments here and there that Maisy corrected. Frigga listened attentively to every word, gasping in surprise at parts and chuckling when they did. She clucked her tongue in disappointment when she learned of how poorly Odin treated Maisy and swore that if she had been around then things would have gone much differently. She listened to them talk about Linn and declared that she would have to meet the teenager the following year. When they told her of the many ups and downs of Taka af Brúðr she was so enthralled with the story that she barely moved. And when Maisy finally described their wedding to the queen, Frigga had tears in her eyes.

"A love story fitting of a fairy tale," she told them, "You must write it down to tell your children. Or better yet! Have the royal scribe pen it out with all of the illumination and calligraphy he can muster! Tell him it is a postmortem order from the Queen of Asgard and he dare not refuse."

"Oh! You should see the pictures!" Maisy took her phone out of her dress pocket and quickly went to the album of wedding pictures she'd managed to take on the big day and the others that some of the Avengers had taken and sent to her. She wished they'd had an actual photographer at the wedding, but Odin hadn't allowed it.

"And you say you designed this lovely dress yourself?" Frigga asked, taking the phone and examining the pictures. "White for a wedding, an interesting choice!"

"The Linn and I researched all sorts of Asgardian wedding dresses, but we both decided that it would be best to have a few Midgardian traditions. Of course, I've also been dreaming up wedding dresses since I was a little girl, so I already had a few ideas."

"Simply gorgeous! And Loki, you looked so handsome!" Frigga patted his cheek, though her ghostly hand passed right through, "And Thor stood beside you? You've stopped trying to kill each other then?"

"For the time being."

"I'm sure peace won't last long, but if one of you actually succeeds in killing the other I will be furious and I will come back from the dead to give the remaining brother a good thrashing," the queen warned.

"Don't worry, I like Thor too much to let Loki do anything to him," Maisy promised.

"I am glad someone is playing peacekeeper in my absence," Frigga smiled sadly at Maisy, "I am delighted that we were able to meet, my dear."

"Me too!"

"We will speak again before dawn comes, but would you mind giving me a moment alone with my son?"

"Of course! I'll just walk back to the beach for a little bit," Maisy rose and gave them privacy, having a feeling that Frigga was about to go off on Loki for banishing his father to Midgard. She didn't really want to be around for that so she made her way back to the beach, where other Asgardians were chatting with their dead loved ones. Some people were crying, some arguing, and some laughing.

As she watched a couple weep over each other, shuddering to think of how that could have been her and Loki if he'd actually died, she did not notice another spectral figure sneak up behind her.

"Your eyes are remarkably dry, love, didn't you miss me?"

Maisy stiffened, hands clenched into fists. A ghostly Egil stepped in front of her, hands clasped behind his back and a bitter smile on his lips.

"I must say, though I wasn't surprised, I was very disappointed that you didn't come to greet me when I first arrived tonight," he tilted his head to the side and looked her up and down, "But surely you must be here to see me. Who else has died who you could possibly wish to see?"

"Egil," she managed, "Go away."

"Never," he flashed his teeth at her, "You'll never be rid of me, my love."

"You can't do anything to me," she told him with a shaking voice, "You're nothing but a ghost now."

"Did you cry when the Trickster told you he'd killed me? Did you realize the mistake you'd made?" He asked.

"Goodbye," she snapped, walking through him and planning on walking back to the place where Loki and Frigga sat. Egil got in her way again, this time with a sword raised. Maisy took a step back, remembering how the ghosts earlier had been able to fight with their weapons.

"I've thought of a plan," he took a step closer and she took one back. "We can be together again."

"You're even crazier as a ghost," Maisy hissed, "Leave me alone. I thought you said you wouldn't hurt me."

"Promises I made as a living man are void in death," he took a few steps closer and Maisy hastily backed away, gathering her skirt up and trying not to lose her balance. "I will have you by my side even if it is only in death."

"Get back!" She yelled at him.

"Or what? You can do nothing to me! I am already dead and, as someone living, you cannot touch a spirit! Nothing will stop me in this mission, love. Nothing can! You will be mine."

He hefted the sword above his head and lunged to deal a fatal blow to Maisy. She screamed, backing away and closing her eyes, but nothing happened. When she dared to open her eyes she saw, not her homicidal ex, but a glorious and beautiful warrior dressed in a white and green uniform.

"You shall not lay a hand on Maisy Sichore!" The warrior thundered at Egil, who lay in the sand with his sword raised to shield his face.

"Die-Ann!" Maisy exclaimed.

"Hello Maisy," Die-Ann greeted, twirling her electrified staff around in her hand and pressing a button that made a blade pop out of the end, "And goodbye Turdblossom."

She stabbed Egil in the gut and he vanished with a scream.

"Did you just kill a dead guy?" Maisy asked incredulously.

"He will return to Valhalla now," Die-Ann shrugged, "And be in fighting shape again by lunchtime. But he will leave you in peace for now."

"Thank you! Oh my gosh, you are a total badass!"

"I am," Die-Ann nodded, "You are welcome."

"Princess!" Two palace guards rushed over to her, weapons drawn, looking frantic.

"Are you alright?" Folkner asked, eyeing Die-Ann suspiciously.

"I'm okay now, thanks. She took care of it," Maisy nodded to her savior who twirled her staff again, "I should go, uh, find the other person I was talking to."

"Shall we escort you, princess?" Ralph asked.

"No! No, no, it's fine. Die-Ann is probably a better escort, honestly, she can actually get rid of any angry ghosts," Maisy smiled, "Besides, you guys probably have friends or family you want to talk to, right?"

"Yes," Ralph's eyes filled with water and he rushed off, presumably to talk to a dead person. Folkner clapped a fist to his chest and then followed after Ralph.

"They are far too soft to ever serve the Kree Empire," Die-Ann noted.

"Yeah, probably, but they do a pretty good job most of the time," Maisy shrugged, "C'mon, I'm sure Loki will be happy to see you—oh! You can't tell anyone that he's alive though."

Die-Ann followed Maisy wordlessly back to Loki and Frigga. Loki looked up at them, looking thoroughly scolded by his mother. His face lit up when he saw who his wife was accompanied by.

"Captain!" He stood and smiled at her, "It is good to see you again!"

"A friend of yours?" Frigga asked pleasantly.

"She was another competitor in Taka af Brúðr," Maisy told the queen.

"Until I lost because I was killed," Die-Ann huffed, "Should I ever see that Krylorian princess again I will give her a taste of her own foul medicine."

"She mostly just murdered you because Surtur was blackmailing her," Maisy said, "But you have every right to be mad."

"Surtur?" Die-Ann scowled, "Then I am even more glad to have stabbed his long haired minion back on the beach."

"Long haired…?" Loki's brow furrowed and he took two steps to Maisy's side, putting his hands on her shoulders and looking her in the eye, "Egil?"

"He tried to kill me," Maisy explained, "Because he wanted us to be ghost lovers or something. But Die-Ann stepped in and took him down. He never stood a chance!"

"Norns, Maisy! Are you alright?!"

"I'm fine, shaken up, but fine."

"This Egil, he is the man of Muspelheim that you used to love, correct?" Frigga asked.

"Yeah. Loki killed him a while back, but apparently that doesn't mean we're done with him," Maisy rubbed her forehead tiredly and Loki kissed the red mark left behind.

"Next year I will have a guard posted on the beach whose sole purpose is to keep him away from us," he promised.

"I should like to visit again next year as well," Die-Ann said thoughtfully, "And perhaps stab the turd again."

"That would be very much appreciated," Maisy laughed.

"I really must introduce myself to him when I get back to Valhalla," Frigga smirked, "And perhaps make his after-life miserable. That ought to give me something fun to do for an eternity."

"Like mother like son," Maisy laughed, "You two are so similar."

"He gets all of his best qualities from me," Frigga grinned and then clasped her hands together, "My darling boy. Dawn is almost upon us."

"It is," Loki rasped, squeezing Maisy's hand.

"You will say hello to your brother and father for me," the queen said sternly, "In whatever deceptive manner you must, but you _will_ do it."

"I will."

"And you will not run Asgard into the ground because it amuses you."

"I won't."

"Most importantly," Frigga smiled at her son with the kind of loving expression that Maisy wished her own mother had given her even once in her life. "You will take care of my daughter-in-law and my grandchildren when they arrive."

"I most certainly will, Mother," Loki's eyes were filled with water and when he blinked a tear raced down his cheek. Die-Ann winced and awkwardly side stepped until she was far away from the group. "Next year you will meet the twins and I'm sure they will love you."

"They have the most beautiful grandmother in all the nine realms," Maisy gushed.

"I cannot wait to meet them," Frigga nodded, "And I would hug you both if I were able."

"It was so wonderful to meet you, Queen Frigga."

"Keep him on a good path, Maisy, my dear. He needs patience and help sometimes."

"I will."

"Well then, with all of my instructions given, do you have anything else either of you would like to tell me?"

Before either Loki or Maisy could think of parting words to say to the queen, a beam of sunlight peeked over the mountains and hit the golden spires of the palace. The light bounced down to the beach and a collective gasp went up from the Asgardians gathered there. The ghosts of their loved ones began to fade in the light and hasty farewells were made as well as promises to meet up again in the next year or the next life.

"Mother," Loki reached out his hand to his mother, but she was already fading. "I _am_ sorry about what happened with the Dark Elves. I wish I could go back—I did not mean the things I said to you last we spoke, oh Norns I have too much to say! Please… forgive me."

"There is nothing to forgive, darling," Frigga smiled once more, "I love you."

"I love you as well."

"Until we meet again," she said as she vanished from their sight. Loki stared at the spot where she'd been for a minute before he turned around and looked at Maisy. She saw the tears in his eyes and rushed to him, throwing her arms around him and pulling him close.

"She still loves me," he whispered.

"Of course she does," Maisy said into his shirt, "I don't have much experience, but I'm pretty sure that's what moms are supposed to do. Keep on loving you even when you do stupid stuff."

Loki, who usually had an eloquent response to everything, could only nod, sniffle, and hold her as the sun rose. When it became time for him to disguise himself again and for them to make their way back to the palace he looked her in the eye before they left.

"I am biased to think that there is no better parent in all the realms than my mother, but I think that you will be a contender for best mother."

"We're going to be awesome parents," Maisy grinned at him, "Better than my mom, better than either of your dads, better than my dad and stepmom, and, just maybe, better than the queen."

"Maybe," he laughed.

"But, oh my gosh, neither of us will ever be as fabulous as she is! Damn! I wish I knew who made her dress and did her hair! When I'm dead I'm going to whatever salon she goes to."

Loki only rolled his eyes.

**A note from the author: Not sure if anyone still reads this, but I'm gonna keep on posting because I love writing these characters too much to stop. So there. Anyway... I hope you enjoyed this slightly angsty, mostly fluffy story about Maisy finally getting to meet Frigga. I knew I had to introduce them to each other at some point and I also really wanted Loki to have a chat with his mother and let him apologize and also let her tell him that she still loved him. Like, don't get me wrong, I loved the scene with Frigga in Endgame, but Loki really deserved a chance to talk to his mom again too. So that's what I wrote. Hopefully it was entertaining for everyone! It was also about ghosts and today's Halloween, so I thought it would be a good day for it. **

**As far as updates go on my other projects... I haven't been writing much lately. Occasionally, I'll have a burst of inspiration, but I usually use that on my original projects and not fanfiction. However, I think today I'm going to sit down and do some good ole fanfic writing. Possibly because I'm too tired to do the NaNoWriMo planning that I should actually be doing. :P**

**Anyway, I hope everyone is holding up well! I know this is a scary time in the world and I hope that you can all be safe and healthy and not bombarded by millions of political advertisements. Much love to anyone still reading this! Until the next chapter! :D**


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